Just like the Unreal and Unity engines, Valve’s Source 2 engine will be free for all content developers.
It’s a good time to be a video game developer. Hot on the heels of Unity going royalty-free and Unreal 4 going completely free, Valve has finally confirmed it’s long-rumored Source 2 engine… which will also be completely free for all content developers. The announcement, which happened at this year’s Game Developer Conference, came alongside the reveal of several new Valve products, including Steam Link – which allows you to stream all your Steam content from any PC or Steam Machine on the same home network – and a room scale tracking system for its new VR Headset codenamed “Lighthouse”
“The value of a platform like the PC is how much it increases the productivity of those who use the platform. With Source 2, our focus is increasing creator productivity. Given how important user generated content is becoming, Source 2 is designed not for just the professional developer, but enabling gamers themselves to participate in the creation and development of their favorite games,” said Valve’s Jay Stelly. “We will be making Source 2 available for free to content developers. This combined with recent announcements by Epic and Unity will help continue the PCs dominance as the premiere content authoring platform.”
Supporting 1080p at 60Hz with low latency, Steam Link will be available this November for $49.99, and available with a Steam Controller for an additional $49.99 in the US (worldwide pricing to be released closer to launch).
“Lighthouse gives us the ability to do this for an arbitrary number of targets at a low enough BOM cost that it can be incorporated into TVs, monitors, headsets, input devices, or mobile devices.” said Valve’s Joe Ludwig. Valve intends to make Lighthouse also freely available to any hardware manufacturers interested in the technology.
Additionally, those oft-delayed Steam Machines will finally be in our hands in time for Steam Link’s November launch. “Steam Machines will start at the same price point as game consoles, with higher performance. Customers interested in the best possible gaming experience can choose whichever components meet their needs,” said Valve, confirming that Alienware and Falcon Northwest will be among the dozen initial Steam Machine partners to launch this year.
At this stage, I don’t think I need to even tell you that there was absolutely no mention of any game in development with a “3” in the title at Valve’s press conference.
