commercial non commercial?

now it might seem like a silly question but can anyone clarify for me if commercial use includes any kind of paying such as patreon or a kick starter kinda of payment or is it mainly meaning for like steam and sites where you ask for say 10 pound in a play store?

thank you for your reading.

Depends on exactly why you are asking, but most would consider any form of money made makes it commercial.

To avoid trouble, I would suggest adopting this interpretation: The moment you make money from your game, no matter how, it is considered commercial.

As stated, the moment you have any form of financial gain would mostly be considered commercial

Legally, most countries consider your game commercial the minute the game makes even $0.01, no matter how it earned that money.

I would also consider your game commercial when you release it completely free, and have a patreon page for supporting YOU as a developer - in any way.

Well there could be a case where you claim that your revenues aren't profits but restitution of the time it took (time taken from your real job, etc.). Basically same as a non-profit organization type of revenue, but honestly you don't want to deal with all the legal hassle, so just stick with "you gain money, therefore commercial".

OR, you could ask individually from the asset creators if case x and y allowed or not.

It's even worse than that.

The question is usually asked because there are a lot of resources that are free for non-commercial but restricted or not free for commercial games. And in each of those cases it depends on the definition of the person who created the resource as to what is commercial or not. And that definition is not the same for everyone.

So the best advice is to go with the most stringend definition unless you really ask everyone whose resources you use as to what they consider non-commercial.

Edit: ninja'd

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People donating to a person to support them in creating a free content for everyone to use is not commercial. Thats just not how it works, when you claim something is commercial that specifically means it's being sold for a profit. = Pay to use.

@Recruit using that logic, I would be able to create and fund a kickstarter campaign and only use someone eles's free assets in my game project. You think thats fair?..

@Recruit It is crucial to go by the definition given in the terms of the resource you are using. Each resource creator has the right to say "Patreon is commercial as far as my assets are concerned." If you are unsure about any particular resource creator then you must ask them.

And I'm afraid to say that in most legal jurisdictions (I cannot possibly speak for all) whether something is commercial or not is not defined by "being sold for a profit". Take, for example, "loss leaders" in supermarkets. They are not being sold directly for profit, indeed, as the name suggests, the retailer expects to lose money on them. They are sold at a loss in the hope that they will generate profit somewhere else. The fact that they are being sold for a loss does not, however, mean that those particular transactions are not counted as commercial. They are. Or Clearance Sales, which often involve things sold at a loss.

It doesn't matter what you personally think what is commercial and what not.
It doesn't even matter what the laws says what is commercial or not - not for this purpose.

What matters is what the content creator who offers something says what is commercial or not in his/her terms of service.
If the terms of service say "to use my work, you'll have to cosplay as bugs bunny in the next convention near you and send me a photo as proof", then that is what you have to do in order to use those resources.

And there have been too many artists and scripters who specifically stated "if you have a donation button on the same website where you give your program away for free, then I consider this commercial use of your program and require payment of a commercial licence instead of a non-commercial licence".
That is why to be on the save side (and unless you specifically check with every content creator of whom you used something) you should consider even a donation for your game to be commercial.

First off, stealing an artwork and claiming it's yours is a different story. But based on your suggestion that its someone "elses" assets that are free. So I see no problem. You should always state clearly what you mean, and that its protected by a noncommercial use thats how legal cases breaks.

Kickstarter is a horrible example second off, those companies are building there resources to usually pay and buy other resources whether its your art, or your scripts, as well as higher a team to do things within that spectrum. Theres no real maker thats gonna type out "Fund me, I make game". On the other hand the only fine line you will get is a scam artist once in a while.

Patreon on the other hand, has nothing to do with using your resources for its gains. For all we know he has a patreon thats linked to some other hobby, and it's just linked to his project to promote those other hobbies. Will you still demand he pays you, when its not about you, or your resources?

You overestimate these donation sites a little too much.


This is the only answer that was made correctly, thank you GM. But still "loss leaders" is a representation of "selling" something, and is usually a strategy to make profit out of something in the long run. Donating to someone to push them forward is a different story, they're a lot of loop holes. Not that I'm suggesting anything. No need to worry sir, I check all the terms of use before I use anything.


Wow very personal eh? Well alright genius.

Lol, when the genius says it doesnt matter what the law says. Ok. that opinion became invalid so fast, lets take that to a court case, and tell the judge "HEY IT DOESNT MATTER WHAT THE LAW SAYS YOUR INVALID JUDGE, MY FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS IS WHAT COUNTS!!" Im pretty sure you have no idea about how these things work so i will digress.

Anyways if you are saying that the author of something has his own terms of use in service, then thats a different story, but that should be always clearly stated. But he may not claim how a the term commercial use is defined because of his own internal opinion. Your opinion. Thats where people mess up. Most content creators on this site only mention whether you can use there product for commercial, or non commercial with there extra term of use that you credit them. So without stating these "extra" rules your pretty much at a lost.

Used for Commercial Purposes Law and Legal Definition. According to 18 USCS § 31, term "used for commercial purposes" means the carriage of persons or property for any fare, fee, rate, charge or other consideration, or directly or indirectly in connection with any business, or other undertaking intended for profit. K

I think if that were challenged though it would be changed, as how does a judge or jury judge intent? Someone could easily say they never intended to make profit after they got caught. So call it a hunch but the first case that definition gets challenged I could see that being changed easily.

That's why most use if you make $0.01 or more off the game, it is commercial. More black and white. No judging of intent or something vague that is left to interpretation of a judge or jury as to what you intended after you get sued as the artist disagreed with you.

Also most don't want to deal with a court case, hence why most play it safe and say if you make any money at all, its commercial. Safer that way. In fact, I've always operated off the rule that if your resources cannot be used for commercial use, I just won't touch them. Doesn't even matter if my game is commercial or non-commercial. That way I don't even have to worry about it.

If you quote, you should read the quote correctly - there is a reason why I added "for this purpose".
Because of course the law counts and cannot be broken - but in these cases where the question above arises, the definition of what is commercial and not under the laws really does not count, because it is (and always will be, there have been lawsuits about this) superseeded by the definition given in the Terms-of-Service.
If the ToS do not make a definition on what "commercial use" is, then yes the definition as given by the laws counts. But if the content creator who wrote the ToS gives its own definition, then for the purpose of the ToS his definition stands higher than the general definition of the law in any country.

Because what stand behind this is the right of the content creator to decide when and under which condition others may use his work for their purpose.
The usual way this goes very often is to say "you can use these works for free if you're working non-commercial, but I require payment if you're working commercial".
And in this specific case, it's the content creator who decides when he requires payment as for commercial use and when the artwork or script or whatever can be used for free.
And if he writes in his ToS "I consider the use of a donation button on the same website as the free download of the game that uses my IP a sign of commercial use and require you to purchase a commercial licence from me to be allowed to so that", then this ToS and definition does indeed override the (more general) law.

You literally said it yourself...

Patreon is a means of funding your project(s). Regardless of how you want to cut the cake, thats the flavor. It is an indirect means of GENERATING INCOME for your work. Read it... And then read it again if you have to - thats how it is, you might wanna learn that sooner rather than later. :)

Well if someone actually got caught, then it's a set deal . In the form that you actually sold it without the consent or license.

It depends though, not all cases are one sided, sometimes nobody wins.

I agree with you on your operation system, I too also don't use any resources that can't be used for commercial purposes (except for the animations for sale on the site that i bought). For example srdudes plugins, be it as I love all his plugins, his terms of use is a bit sketchy, with the "subject to change when ever he feels like it" this can cause many problems. Especially if your game ever becomes a big success.


Nit picker no nit picking :), this my friends is how you read things out of context.

Nit picking because you know im right? ok

no double posting :)

I merged the posts together. Just be careful when you quote someone, as it will default to double posting.

True, but what I meant was someone could do that and then try to say (once they are caught) they never intended to profit, causing a huge legal dispute. Which is why I suggested my system.

Of course, I also picked my system for a different reason altogether. See, when I started out in one of the guides for new users (maybe Andar's?) it suggested deciding at the beginning if your game is commercial or non-commercial. But, then it added that if you change your mind later on, it is much easier to go from commercial to non-commercial as all assets that are commercial are also non-commercial. So that's another reason I only use commercial assets as then I can decide once the game is done which it really is.

But, I also don't use patreon. I figure I'm an unknown dev so at this point I'd be lucky to get more than $5 a month, and that $5 would probably be from mom.