Studio Tier Overview
Please note that the following is provided as a simplified overview of our asset licenses. Nothing written here overrules our license terms nor is legally binding or contractual.
Always refer to the actual Candy Arts licenses for the most accurate information.
Basics
Intended Audience
Our Studio licenses are designed for medium and large professional projects, with the potential to derive maximum value from our Assets.
Studio licenses feature a royalty-based payment model that provides key benefits:
• No seat limits, recurring subscriptions, size or budget-based requirements, or complicated accounting.
• No risk: owed royalties are proportional to project revenue.
• Low royalty rates, under the value our Assets bring to the table.
• Ensures we have an interest in your project’s success, and an incentive to provide the tools it needs.
Eligibility
All projects are eligible for the Studio license tier.
Due to the responsibilities the royalty-model entails, we recommend that small projects use the Indie tiers if they qualify.
License Assignment
Studio Licenses can be assigned to a project by any entity who holds the required rights to do so.
If a project integrates multiple Candy Arts Assets, licenses of the same tier must be used for all of them (e.g. all Assets must be of the Studio tier, mixing Studio and Indie tiers is not permitted).
Projects under the Studio tier may not downgrade to Indie tiers, even if they fulfill the requirements.
Except for Neutral Entities*, all entities who hold ownership rights to a project, or who derive revenue from a project, are considered Creators and are collectively liable to ensure the project’s compliance with the license terms.
*See the license terms for the definition of Neutral Entities.
Royalties & Revenue
Direct Revenue
Royalties apply to a project’s Direct Revenue. This is defined as any gross revenue received in consideration for/arising from the project.
For example:
• Sales or pre-orders of the project.
• Subscription fees for access to the project or game servers.
• Licensing of the project to third-parties.
• Funding from third-parties (non-Creators), including crowdfunding.
• Payments received under exclusivity agreements.
See the license terms for precise definitions and further examples.
Indirect Revenue
Royalties do not apply to Indirect Revenue. This is defined as revenue or benefits that are incidental to the project, and which do not meet the definition of Direct Revenue.
For example:
• Sales of other products that are promoted or advertised by the project.
• Increased market value of the franchise the project belongs to.
Major Assets
The royalty rates of Major Assets are cumulative with one another.
• For example, if a project uses two Major Assets, each with a royalty rate of 2%, the project must pay 4% royalties on Direct Revenue.
Minor Assets
Minor Assets only require that a project pay a minimum royalty rate of 1% in total for all Assets.
• If a project is already subject to a 2% royalty rate from a Major Asset, the 1% minimum is achieved: that project can use any number of Minor Assets at no additional cost.
• If a project is already subject to a 1% royalty rate from a Minor Asset, it can use any number of additional Minor Assets at no additional cost.
• If a project is not subject to any royalties, it must pay a 1% royalty rate to use any Minor Assets.
Retroactive Royalties
To prevent loopholes, when any Candy Arts Assets are integrated to a project after it has already begun deriving revenue, the project must pay retroactive royalties for the use of the newly-added Assets.
The time period subject to retroactive royalties is dependent on the date when the project was fully released (announced as out of development/Beta/Early-Access):
• If the project has been fully released for less than 1 year, retroactive royalties apply from the moment the project first began earning revenue.
• If the project has been fully released for 1 year or more, retroactive royalties apply only to a period of one year before the given Assets were integrated.
For example:
• A project is started in March 2023 and earns revenue during development. It fully releases in January 2024. A Candy Arts Asset is added to the project in December 2024 (less than one year after full release) → Retroactive royalties are owed on all revenue since March 2023 for that Asset.
• A Candy Arts Asset is added in June 2025 (more than 1 year after full release) → Retroactive royalties are owed from June 2024 for that Asset.
Extra Content
It’s common today for games to be distributed in multiple parts, which may require separate download, installation or payment. Examples include DLC, microtransactions, purchasable codes to unlock content, and other such things.
Our licenses account for that, and there’s a few things you need to know.
Definitions:
When a project integrates Candy Arts Assets:
• Any product that adds content to the project (e.g. DLC) is called an Expansion.
• Any product that unlocks or modifies content in the project, but does not add any content, is called an Access Product (e.g. microtransactions, access codes…).
Mods are a separate concept. They are essentially Expansions or Access Content with no connection or affiliation with the base project’s Creators. See the Mods page for information.
License requirements:
1. Expansions or Access Products only require licenses if they include or use Candy Arts Assets.
• These licenses can be of a different tier than the base project.
• If Expansions/Access Products are assigned Studio Licenses, they owe royalties on their own Direct Revenue as if they are projects themselves.
2. If Expansions or Access Products include or use our Assets, the base project must be assigned licenses for these Assets.
• If the base project doesn’t have the required licenses assigned, the Expansions/Access Products are considered Add-ons and are not authorized.
Revenue:
The Direct Revenue of Expansions and Access Products must be added to the Direct Revenue of the base project, even if the Expansions/Access Products don’t include or use any Candy Arts Assets.
• That added Direct Revenue is subject to the same royalty rate as the base project.
When both the base project and an Expansion/Access Product are required to pay royalties, royalties only apply once on any Direct Revenue:
For example:
• A base project has licenses for Major Assets A (2% royalty rate) and B (1% royalty rate); an Expansion has licenses for Major Asset B.
• The Expansion’s Direct Revenue will be subject to royalties for both A and B due to being counted as part of the base project’s Direct Revenue (3% total royalty rate).
• The Expansion’s Direct Revenue will not be subject twice to royalties for B (would be 4% total royalty rate).
Alternate Versions
Definition:
When two projects are substantially identical, with only minor differences that separate them, they are considered Alternate Versions of one another.
For example, this typically applies to Red/Blue versions of a game, Deluxe or GOTY editions, US/EU localizations, HD remasters, and other such concepts.
• In the context of our license terms, Alternate Versions are considered to be one and the same project.
• Projects are considered Alternate Versions even if they don’t use our Assets: as long as one of them does, they are all Alternate Versions of one another.
• The name or designation of a project has no bearing on its status as an Alternate Version. For example, naming two substantially identical projects as if they were different projects entirely does not nullify their status as Alternate Versions of one another.
License requirements:
As Alternate Versions are considered the same project, they must all be assigned the same licenses.
• This applies even to Alternate Versions that don’t use any of our Assets.
• It also applies if some Alternate Versions don’t use the same Assets as other Alternate Versions.
• The license tier must be the same for all Alternate Versions.
Revenue:
As Alternate Versions are considered the same project, their Direct Revenue is combined.
Royalty rates for each Candy Arts Assets apply only once to the combined Direct Revenue.