DayZ creator Dean Hall blasts Epic and Unity 'greed', launches free open-source Brutal framework

Dean Hall, creator of DayZ and Icarus, accused Epic (Unreal) and Unity of greed and of taking control away from developers. His studio RocketWerkz released Brutal, an open-source game-making framework that is free for commercial use with no royalties, only attribution.

• Brutal is a framework, not an engine: it works with Unreal or custom engines
• Source code is public, no royalties, free commercial use with attribution
• Hall criticized Unreal's 5% royalty and Tim Sweeney's answer at GDC 2025
• Kitten Space Agency built on Brutal has raised over $230,000 in donations