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| {{InfoboxProductLine | | {{InfoboxProductLine |
| | Title = Ultra Engine | | | Title = Leadwerks |
| | Release Year =2025 | | | Release Year =2025 |
| | Product Type =Software PC gaming engine | | | Product Type =Software PC gaming engine |
| | In Production =Yes, in development | | | In Production =Yes, in development |
| | Official Website =https://www.ultraengine.com | | | Official Website =https://www.leadwerks.com/ |
| | Logo = Leadwerks.svg | | | Logo = Leadwerks.svg |
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| '''Leadwerks is''' a gaming engine that shares multiple types of licenses, one of them being perpetual ( for a single user ). | | '''Leadwerks''' is a gaming engine, formerly known as Ultra Engine, created by Leadwerks Software. The engine is currently in early access and offers royalty-free licenses through either a $99.99 perpetual license or a $5.99/month subscription license.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Software |url=https://www.leadwerks.com/community/store/category/1-software/ |url-status=live |access-date=3 Sep 2025 |website=Leadwerks Community}}</ref> |
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| Game developers are required to code their game using the code that powers the engine. As this practice is tightly coupled with the interface of the gaming engine, games cannot be ported to other gaming engines. Choosing a gaming engine that is offering royalty-free license is a big win and game developers would have more interest in it, to avoid the challenges Unity engine managed to do in 2023 with their new pricing model, the "Runtime Fee".
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| Under the perpetual license a product should function as it is at the time of purchase, activation keys or whatever method is used to prove your license is valid does not need to reach a remote location to confirm it.
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| Unfortunately this program is not built like this and users will be forced to be online when using it. The option to work offline or block it in your firewall, to avoid sharing your personal data is completely removed.
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| If users wish to avoid testing the latest bugs and not wish to update their program version, a practice that is required in all professional development environments where you should not use “latest” is also removed.
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| ==Consumer impact summary== | | ==Consumer impact summary== |
| <nowiki>*</nowiki> User Freedom: The perpetual license does not give users the rights to use the program “AS IS” at the time of purchase. You cannot use your purchased version offline or online. Only specific releases are available and those are dictated by the company. | | <nowiki>*</nowiki> User Freedom: The perpetual license does not give users the rights to use the program as it is at the time of purchase. The purchased version cannot be used offline or online.{{Citation needed}} Only specific releases selected by Leadwerks are available. |
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| <nowiki>*</nowiki> User Privacy: There is no safer way to work with such a product, other than using it from an internet-disconnected PC (or using a firewall). This product states in the EULA that it has data tracking by default.
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| <nowiki>*</nowiki> Business Model. Perpetual license is treated as a monthly subscription and users cannot opt out to always call the server when starting the application.
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| ==Incidents== | | ==Incidents== |
| This is a list of all consumer protection incidents related to this product. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{PAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]]. | | This is a list of all consumer protection incidents related to this product. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{PAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]]. |
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| === Incident on company rebranding === | | ===Perpetual license blocking=== |
| | | When Ultra Engine rebranded as Leadwerks, they required all users to update to a newer version of the client.{{Citation needed}} The new client prompted users to log in with their email address instead of their username, which blocked users with a perpetual license from accessing their installation until they re-verified that their perpetual license was active.{{Citation needed}} |
| === Changing of the brand forced all users to upgrade to the new client. Users had new requirements to use in the login page (the email instead of username). ===
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| This change blocked the installed version for users of perpetual license showing “Please use the client application to log into your Ultra Engine account and ensure your license is active”. The perpetual license should not ask for re-checking the validity of the license and should work with what is installed.
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| The company changed the EULA with the new name and most references of Ultra engine were removed.
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| As stated in the EULA “This SOFTWARE PRODUCT utilizes analytics to record statistics on actions performed within the software, in order to collect information to help improve the user experience. Analytics can be disabled in the program settings”. The requirement to update to the new version users are required to do extra checks if new tracking options have been added
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| Another line in the EULA “This SOFTWARE PRODUCT is for personal use only and may be used by the Licensee, on one or more computers”. There is no mention that it requires an internet connection to use it, nor that users are forced to update or that it can be disabled remotely.
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| A compliant solution should be: inside the user's account on the ultra engine site there should be a button to download the program at the time of purchase or a newer version use it on one or more computers where scripts can be built. By having the download button under the account on their site, the license is confirmed so there is no need to contact the server while using it.
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| The request to fix the installed old version:
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| <nowiki>https://www.leadwerks.com/community/topic/68238-violation-of-end-user-license-agreement/</nowiki>
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| [[File:Discord screenshot.png|thumb]]
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| Incident on discord channel
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| The owner of the program is available on discord and messages were posted in hopes it will attract some comments or provide a fix.
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| Unfortunately the message was ignored by the owner and others only offered just the forced solution to update the client, without consideration of the initial request.
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| Recent release notes, do not contain any details regarding not contacting remote servers for normal usage.
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| [ Page showing the release of the new client <nowiki>https://www.leadwerks.com/community/topic/61318-release-notes/page/29/</nowiki> ][[File:Screenshot 2025-04-01 005812.png|thumb]]
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| Results on discord request: There is no response from the owner hence no fix is expected.
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| ==See also==
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| New EULA does not include the Ultra Engine that was sold for many years: https://www.leadwerks.com/eula
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| The product page shares that you are supposed to own the product at the time of purchase. https://www.leadwerks.com/community/store/product/13-leadwerks-5/
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| ==References== | | ==References== |
| {{reflist}} | | {{reflist}} |
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| [[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]] | | [[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]] |
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Leadwerks
| Basic Information |
| Release Year
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2025 |
| Product Type
|
Software PC gaming engine |
| In Production
|
Yes, in development |
| Official Website
|
https://www.leadwerks.com/ |
Leadwerks is a gaming engine, formerly known as Ultra Engine, created by Leadwerks Software. The engine is currently in early access and offers royalty-free licenses through either a $99.99 perpetual license or a $5.99/month subscription license.[1]
* User Freedom: The perpetual license does not give users the rights to use the program as it is at the time of purchase. The purchased version cannot be used offline or online.[citation needed] Only specific releases selected by Leadwerks are available.
This is a list of all consumer protection incidents related to this product. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Leadwerks category.
Perpetual license blocking[edit | edit source]
When Ultra Engine rebranded as Leadwerks, they required all users to update to a newer version of the client.[citation needed] The new client prompted users to log in with their email address instead of their username, which blocked users with a perpetual license from accessing their installation until they re-verified that their perpetual license was active.[citation needed]
