YoYo Games, the studio that created the GameMaker Studio game engine, has closed its publishing business.

1. Game Maker Studio 2 Permanent License Plate
2. Game Maker Studio 2 Permanent License Verification
3. Game Maker Studio 2 Permanent Licensed

In order to get past the startup screen and use GMS2, you must have a license with them. YoYo offers a free 30-day trial for new accounts with them. At the end of the 30 days, the license will expire and you will no longer have access to use the software past the startup screen. View Entire Discussion (4 Comments).

1. GameMaker Studio, the fastest and easiest to use cross-platform game development platform. GameMaker Studio has been developed with usability and efficiency at its core, allowing developers to create games in a single code base and then publish them to run natively across an unprecedented number platforms including Android, iOS, OS X, HTML5, Ubuntu, Windows UWP.
2. Licensing Once you have downloaded and installed GameMaker Studio 2, the first time you use it you will be requested to input your licence details: Your licence is tied to a YoYo Account (YYA) and you are required to have made one to be able to use GameMaker Studio 2.
3. The studio has also reduced the price of the mobile license for their game engine by half. The permanent access will now cost users a one-off $199 fee. In another change, the free trial of GameMaker Studio 2 will now include all the engine’s features. However, the free trial period will only last 30 days.

Hyper Light Drifter, developed by Heart Machine using GameMaker Studio

The publishing initative for developers using GameMaker went live in May 2018. Since then, it has reportedly gained some recognition with the community. However, YoYo Games decided to close it.

Game Maker Studio 2 Permanent License Plate

“It’s become clear over the year that this isn’t where we can add the most value, and that our organisational capability to deliver in this area diverts resources from where they are most needed, and we aren’t in a position to offer significantly more than other publishers in this regard.”

YoYo Games general manager Stuart Poole, via PocketGamer.biz

Former Outplay Entertainment senior producer Chris Trewartha, who was in charge of the publishing activities, has left the company.

Game Maker Studio 2 Permanent License Verification

The studio has also reduced the price of the mobile license for their game engine by half. The permanent access will now cost users a one-off $199 fee. In another change, the free trial of GameMaker Studio 2 will now include all the engine’s features. However, the free trial period will only last 30 days.

Game Maker Studio 2 Permanent Licensed

The studio expects this latter move to incentivize more of the 1,500 users signing up each day to purchase a license.