(Image credit: GameMaker)

GameMaker, one of the best game development software platforms used by indies, has announced that its next-generation runtime, GMRT, will be free for commercial use from 1 January, 2027. From that date, developers can build and sell GMRT games on desktop, mobile, web, and GX Games without first buying a Professional licence.

Today, GameMaker is free for non-commercial projects, but selling a game requires a Professional licence, which costs $99.99 as a one-off payment. The developer platform has been used to make games including Spelunky, Deltarune and UFO 50. Read our GameMaker 'everything you need to know' explainer for more on what has been and can be made.

A GMRT runtime is the software that takes your code and makes it run on a computer or game console; think of it as the cogs that make everything work.…