The licence
Royalty-free, commercial, perpetual. Use it in games you sell, in as many projects as you like, for as long as you like. The short version is below; the full terms follow.
- Use in commercial games, film, TV and visualisation
- Unlimited projects, unlimited titles, no per-seat fee
- Modify, remesh, retexture, rescale as you like
- Keep using it in shipped work forever, even if you stop buying
- Resell, sublicense or redistribute the asset itself
- Include in an NFT, or in AI or machine-learning training data
- Share the source files outside your own organisation
- Claim authorship of the original asset
Two tiers, one licence
For individuals and studios whose commercial activity grossed less than $100,000 in the last 12 months.
For studios whose commercial activity grossed $100,000 or more in the last 12 months. Identical rights — the tier reflects the size of the business, not what you may do with the asset.
Full terms
1. What you are buying
You are buying a licence to use the asset, not ownership of it. Darksteady retains copyright in every model, texture and source file. The licence is granted to one individual or one organisation — whoever the purchase was made for — and it does not expire.
2. What the licence allows
You may incorporate the asset into games, films, television, animation, architectural and product visualisation, simulations, virtual and augmented reality, and printed or rendered still imagery.
You may do this in an unlimited number of projects, commercial or otherwise, with no revenue share and no additional payment however successful that work becomes.
You may modify the asset in any way — remesh, retopologise, retexture, rescale, recombine — and you may use those modified versions on the same terms.
You may share the files internally among people working for the buying organisation, and you may pass them to a contractor who is working on your project, provided they use them only for your project and do not retain them afterwards.
The licence is perpetual. Work you have shipped stays licensed permanently, and this remains true if the store ceases trading.
3. What the licence does not allow
You may not resell, sublicense, rent, lend or otherwise redistribute the asset itself, in original or modified form, as a standalone item or as part of an asset pack, template, kit or marketplace listing.
You may not include the asset in a machine-learning or generative-AI training dataset, or use it to train, fine-tune or evaluate a generative model.
You may not mint the asset as, or include it within, a non-fungible token.
You may not publish the source files anywhere they can be downloaded by others, including public repositories, file-sharing services and Discord servers.
You may not claim to be the author of the original asset, or register any part of it as your own intellectual property.
The overall test is simple: the asset may be *used* in your work without limit, but the asset itself may not be *passed on*.
4. Licence tiers
Assets are sold at two price points. Both grant identical rights — the tier reflects the size of the buying business, not what may be done with the asset.
Personal applies where the buyer's commercial activity grossed less than $100,000 over the previous twelve months. Professional applies at or above that figure. The tier is self-declared at checkout.
If your revenue crosses the threshold after a purchase, that purchase remains valid and no further payment is due. The tier is assessed once, at the moment of buying.
5. Add-on source files
Some assets offer the Substance Painter project file as a paid add-on. It carries the same permissions and the same restrictions as the asset itself: use it to re-author textures for your own work, but do not redistribute it.
Blender .blend source files are included with packs. The same terms apply.
6. Refunds
Because these are digital files delivered immediately, the right to withdraw is waived at the point of download, and you will be asked to confirm this at checkout. See the refunds page for how this works and for the circumstances in which a refund is still given.
7. Changes to this licence
This licence may be revised for future purchases. Any revision applies only from the date it is published — the terms you bought under continue to govern everything you have already bought.
Common questions
Can I use Darksteady assets in a commercial game I sell?+
Yes. Every asset ships with a royalty-free commercial licence covering games, film, television and visualisation. There is no revenue share, no per-title fee and no cap on how much you earn from work containing the asset.
What is the difference between the Personal and Professional licence?+
Only the price. Both tiers grant exactly the same rights. Professional applies if your commercial activity grossed $100,000 or more over the last twelve months; Personal applies below that. If you cross the threshold after buying, you owe nothing further.
Do I need a separate licence for each project?+
No. One purchase covers unlimited projects and unlimited titles for the buying individual or organisation, for as long as you want to use it.
Can my whole studio use one purchase?+
Yes, within one organisation. The files may be shared among people working for the buying entity. They may not be passed to contractors outside it, to other studios, or published anywhere others can download them.
What happens if I stop buying, or the store closes?+
Nothing changes for work you have already made. The licence is perpetual: anything you have shipped, or ship later, stays licensed.
Can I modify the models and textures?+
Yes. Remesh, retopologise, retexture, rescale, combine with other assets, strip parts out. The restriction is on redistributing the asset itself, not on what you do with it inside your own work.
Can I use these assets to train an AI model?+
No. Including Darksteady assets in machine-learning or generative-AI training datasets is not permitted under any tier.
What file formats and texture resolution do I get?+
Formats vary by asset and are listed on each product page — typically GLB, OBJ and USD, with Blender .blend sources included from pack level upward. Textures are 4K PBR sets. Everything is game-ready for Unreal Engine 5, Unity, Godot, Blender.