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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]

icon-gmsGameMaker 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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What do you think?

112 Comments

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  1. I don’t think this offer is going anymore.
    I’ve donwloaded, installed, updated and re-installed numerous times but I havn’t been able to figure out to claim the free license.
    The welcome screen only shows options to either use the free version or to input an existing license key.
    So either the offer is ended or they’ve changed the method 😐

  2. I received the license key but i dont know where to redeem it to upgrade it to the standard version, if anyone can help me with this…

  3. Is this offer still working?

    I tried today but couldn’t find anywhere to register the free version for the license. I uninstalled GM81 and Studio, removed all entries of “game maker” “gamemaker” and “5tudio” in the registry, then reinstalled Studio from the link provided.

    Any insight is much appreciated!

  4. Is this offer still available? Becaus eI can’t seem to find anywhere to submit my email to receive my liscence upgrade. I’ve installed, and updated, but can’t see any option to even ASK for a code. Can anyone help? Thanks

  5. Just downloaded and installed this, but probably won’t be able to really get down to working with it until some time next year. Unfortunately I’m probably going to have to reinstall my entire system before then, because it’s rather damaged right now. Will I still be able to use the key after a reinstallation? I’m a relative newbie to game design, aside from playing around with the foolproof and lovely but limited Knytt Stories editor for a while, so I’d really like this opportunity to experiment with a ‘proper’ tool for game creation…

    • I would presume that if you get a license, it’s valid to reinstall on your new computer or a re-install of your existing one. I, myself, am having a hard time getting the license today. Let me know if it works for you.

  6. Alright, so I finally can connect to yoyogames.com. I download GameMaker Studio and upgrade it to Standard version for free! It took less than 5 minutes for the e-mail to arrive.

  7. I am having serious issues with this install of Game Maker. First I know it says to wait an hour or so since high demand blah blah blah but I have doubts my e-mail even went through. This thing is bugging all over the place. First error messages keep popping up when entering screens. I cannot access the free version at all (telling me to check the license key or something). Then after sitting idle long enough it crashes and closes. So seeing how it’s not even running properly and giving no indication if my email went through or not (and that I have received no e-mail whatsoever and it’s probably been an hour already) I have to conclude that I’m not going to be getting the key, and if I did I’m going to be using it with a buggy program. Btw I tried both beta and stable, beta I cannot even access the main window, saying “yo yo tutorial error” or something. Whereas when I had the free version on Steam I ran it with no problems whatsoever, which is why I’m a bit upset that you’re offering nothing for Steam users since the download here is just about completely broken.

    • I tried downloading this on a different computer, SAME problems. Also, no e-mail. I hope I’m not the only one having issues here…

  8. NOTICE: If you already have used a registered version of Game Maker such as Free or MIPS Testing, you will need to purge your Windows Registry of Game Maker Studio.

    Start -> Search “Registry” -> should be a registry editor to open(if not, google a free one) -> in your registry editor search for “game maker” -> delete the ENTIRE folder for it(this removes all preferences as well, it’s like a clean slate!).

    Run the installer.
    Follow steps as mentioned by OP.

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