GameMaker Studio Standard Edition Is Currently Free ($50 Value)

Update: GameMaker Studio Standard is now 100% free permanently, click here for more info »

[highlight]The promotion below has ended[/highlight]

GameMaker Studio version 1.2.1214 was just released, and with it comes an offer to upgrade to the Standard edition free of charge. Valued at $50, GameMaker Studio Standard is a significant improvement upon the free version of the software which imposes harsh restrictions on the resources that developers can make use of.

Additionally, developers can use their free Standard edition license to upgrade to the Professional edition for only $50 more. It’s likely that this is a time-limited offer, so if you’re using the free version of GameMaker Studio be sure to act quickly. Instructions for upgrading are listed below.

The option to upgrade to Standard is displayed after starting GameMaker Studio. Make sure you have updated to version 1.2.1214 (or later) of GameMaker Studio. As the update is part of the beta updates channel, choose this option when it is presented. You may need to right click the GameMaker icon in your system tray and select the correct updates channel.

UPDATE: The promotion is now running on the stable updates channel as of version 1.2.1222, so you do not need to change to the beta channel anymore.

You will need to register for a license key to be sent to you via email, and then you can use that key to upgrade your free version of GameMaker Studio to the Standard edition. Some users are reporting that it has taken up to 60 minutes to receive the email which includes the license key due to current high demand.

This offer is not being extended to users who have GameMaker for Steam.

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GameMaker community members expressed their delight at the offer. “I’ve been wanting to recommend Studio to friends for a long time, but the resource limits of Studio Free make the program borderline unusable,” said one user.

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