SpriteBuilder game developer tools introduce three tiers of subscriptions

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Mobile developers might want to pay attention.

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The game developer tool SpriteBuilder is introducing a three-tiered subscription licensing model. SpriteBuilder is designed for rapidly building iOS and Android games with Objective-C and Xcode, and its speed could help developers get their apps out quicker in the competitive mobile gaming market, which research firm Newzoo predicts could hit $30 billion this year.

This isn’t the only engine news from the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. This morning, Epic Games announced that its Unreal Engine 4 would be free to use (though developers would still owe royalties for shipped games).

The three tiers include Community (free), Indie ($99 a month), and Professional ($300 a month). Apportable is giving 50 percent off the price for the first year for developers who sign up during GDC this week.

“We wanted a business model that would make the most sense to our open-source community, which varies greatly in team size and project scope.” said SpriteBuilder creator Apportable cofounder and chief executive officer Collin Jackson in a press release sent to GamesBeat. “We reached out to our most active SpriteBuilder developers for feedback on the pricing model, and they were very supportive of the three-tiered approach.”

SpriteBuilder has helped to create mobile games like Wooga’s Jelly Splash and Sidebolt Studios’ Night at the Museum.