Legal

Exported Game Runtime License

Effective date: September 28, 2026

The short version

  • You can export your Game out of Summer and sell it anywhere lawful, including Steam. The Summer Engine runtime ships inside it with no fee, no revenue share and no per-install charge.
  • Keep the notices file intact, do not modify or extract the runtime, and do not ship the runtime as anything other than part of your Exported Game.
  • Sparks do not exist inside Exported Games. No Sparks, no Earned Sparks, no Passport, no selling your game's points for Sparks. Off-platform commerce is yours, under your own terms. A reserved Linked Build path is described in the Summer Games Terms of Service Section 8.8; it has no effect until Summer activates it in the Fee and Rates Schedule.
  • Your players keep their copies no matter what happens between you and Summer. If you close your Account, your right to keep distributing survives indefinitely. If we terminate you for cause, you get a 90 day wind-down for new copies.
  • Only Games you wholly own can be exported at launch; Mods cannot. Multiplayer hosting for Exported Games is a separate paid service. Player terms, privacy and refund policies live at summer.games.

1. What this document is

1.1 Scope. This Exported Game Runtime License (this "Runtime License") governs your reproduction and distribution of the Summer Engine runtime as embedded in Games you export from the Platform or the Editor. It is one of the Additional Terms under the Summer Games Terms of Service. Capitalized terms not defined here have the meanings given in the Summer Dictionary.

1.2 Parties. This Runtime License is between you, the Creator exporting a Game, and Summer Labs, Inc., a Delaware corporation, 2810 N Church St, STE 89812, Wilmington, DE 19802, United States ("Summer", "we", "us"). You accept it the first time you use the export feature, and each subsequent export reaffirms acceptance of the version then in effect, subject to Section 13.5.

1.3 Relationship to other Summer documents. This Runtime License supplements the Summer Games Terms of Service, the Summer Engine Desktop EULA (which governs the Editor itself), the Third-Party Software Notices, the Asset Library License Terms (which govern library assets embedded in your export), the Multiplayer Hosting Terms and the Summer Brand Guidelines. If it conflicts with the Summer Games Terms of Service on reproducing or distributing the Runtime inside Exported Games, this Runtime License controls for that subject.

1.4 Definitions. (a) "Runtime" means the executable game runtime of the Engine, in compiled object code form, that the Editor embeds in an Exported Game, including Summer's Proprietary Modules distributed in compiled form and the Open Source Components identified in the Third-Party Software Notices. (b) "Notices File" means the attribution, copyright and license notices file the Editor generates and places inside each Exported Game, including the end user runtime notice in Section 3.3 and the Attribution Manifest under the Asset Library License Terms. (c) "Exported Game" means a Game that a Creator exports using the export feature, packaged for distribution outside the Platform, with the Runtime embedded. (d) "End User" means a person who lawfully obtains a copy of your Exported Game outside the Platform. (e) "Summer Content" has the meaning in the Summer Engine Desktop EULA.

2. What the Runtime is

2.1 Components. The Runtime consists of (a) Open Source Components derived from Godot Engine 4 and other open source software, each governed by its own license as identified in the Third-Party Software Notices, and (b) Summer's Proprietary Modules (currently [SUMMER PROPRIETARY MODULE LIST], including Summer's AI integration layer, asset pipeline components and platform interoperability code), distributed in compiled form only and licensed, not sold, under this Runtime License.

2.2 Open source base. The Godot Engine components are licensed under the MIT License. Nothing in this Runtime License limits, conditions or modifies any rights you independently hold in the Open Source Components. Section 7 explains how the two license layers interact.

2.3 What the Runtime is not. The Runtime does not include: (a) the Editor or development tooling (governed by the Summer Engine Desktop EULA and the Developer Tooling and API Terms); (b) any Platform service, including matchmaking, discovery, Summer Passport, Sparks, the Summer Creator Program or Hosting Services; (c) any Summer server-side software; or (d) any Summer trademark. No license to any of these is granted here.

3. The license we grant you

3.1 Grant. Subject to your continuing compliance with Section 4, Summer grants you a non-exclusive, worldwide, fully paid-up, non-transferable (except under Section 13.2) license, without the right to sublicense except as Section 3.3 states, to: (a) reproduce the Runtime, in compiled form only, solely as embedded in and forming an integrated, inseparable part of your Exported Games; and (b) distribute the Runtime, solely as embedded in your Exported Games, to End Users, directly or through any lawful distribution channel, free of charge or for payment on terms you set.

3.2 Distribution channels. Lawful channels include Steam, the Epic Games Store, itch.io, GOG, direct download and physical media. Distribution through any channel is also subject to that channel's agreements with you; Summer is not a party to them and has no responsibility under them. Availability of an export target in the Editor is not a representation that the resulting build satisfies any channel's certification requirements.

3.3 End User rights. Summer grants each End User, directly, a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, fully paid-up license to execute the Runtime solely as embedded in a lawfully obtained copy of your Exported Game, for the End User's personal use of that Exported Game. This grant is made by Summer, not sublicensed through you, and it is irrevocable for any copy lawfully obtained before any termination under Section 9. The Notices File states this grant. Any end user agreement you attach to your Exported Game must not conflict with this Section or purport to grant End Users greater rights in the Runtime.

3.4 Summer Content in exports. Summer Content embedded in your Exported Game is licensed to you and to End Users as the Summer Engine Desktop EULA Section 4.5 states: worldwide, fully paid-up, perpetual for Games that already incorporate it, terminable only for your breach, and never redistributable on a standalone basis.

3.5 No fees, no share, no per-install charge. Summer charges no fee, revenue share, per-seat, per-install or export fee on Exported Games under this Runtime License. Any future change would be a change under Section 13.5 and would not apply to Games already exported.

3.6 Reservation; licensor. All rights not expressly granted are reserved by Summer and its licensors. Where the Engine is owned by a Summer affiliate, that affiliate has authorized Summer to grant the licenses in this document; you have no contractual relationship with any Summer affiliate.

4. Conditions of the license

Each condition in this Section 4 is a condition of the grant, not merely a covenant.

4.1 The Notices File ships intact. Every copy of an Exported Game you distribute must include the Notices File, unmodified, where the export process places it. You must not remove, alter, obscure or suppress the Notices File, any notice inside the Runtime, or any open source license text the export includes. If you repackage an Exported Game (for example in an installer), the Notices File must remain present and accessible.

4.2 No modification, no reverse engineering of Proprietary Modules. You must not modify, patch, hook or create derivative works of the Runtime's Proprietary Modules, and you must not reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble them, except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by applicable law and then only after prior written notice to support@summerengine.com. This Section does not restrict your rights in Open Source Components (Section 7) or ordinary use of the Runtime's documented configuration, scripting and extension interfaces.

4.3 No extraction or standalone redistribution. You must not extract the Runtime or any Proprietary Module from an Exported Game, and you must not distribute the Runtime standalone, as part of a software development kit, game engine, template, tool or library, or in any product whose purpose is to enable others to develop or run software. The Runtime may be distributed only inside a playable Exported Game created from your own Game.

4.4 Use only within Exported Games. You must not use the Runtime for any purpose other than operating your Exported Games, including as a general-purpose rendering, physics, networking or AI library in other software.

4.5 Platform conduct while your Account exists. For so long as you maintain an Account, you must remain in compliance with the Summer Games Terms of Service and the Summer Games Community Standards in your conduct on the Platform. Exporting does not exempt on-Platform conduct. Section 9 describes what happens when your Account closes.

4.6 No Sparks in Exported Games. Sparks, Earned Sparks and Passport Items may not be purchased, sold, earned, awarded, displayed as a balance, spent or otherwise used inside any Exported Game, and an Exported Game must not connect to, read from or write to the Sparks Ledger. An Exported Game may include your own in-game points, but may not sell Game Points or anything else for Sparks, and must not represent any off-platform currency, item or balance as connected to, convertible into or equivalent to Sparks. This restates the corresponding restriction in the Summer Games Terms of Service Section 8.8 and remains in force for launch. It changes only if Summer publishes a change as active in the Fee and Rates Schedule. Commerce inside your Exported Games (paid downloadable content, your own in-game currency, direct sales) is your own business, under your own terms, with your own payment providers and at your own risk; Summer is not the merchant of record, payment processor or guarantor for any Exported Game commerce. An Exported Game sold on a third-party store is not a Paid Game in Summer's Paid Games lane and is not governed by any Paid Games Terms. [Reserved. The Summer Games Terms of Service Section 8.8 describes a reserved Linked Build path under which Sparks might later be spent, but never sold, inside a Game exported from Summer Engine that requires sign-in to a Summer account and whose Sparks spend is authorized by Summer's servers. This Runtime License grants no right to use Sparks; that path has no effect until Summer publishes it as active in the Fee and Rates Schedule.]

4.7 Multiplayer hosting is a separate service. This Runtime License grants no right to use Summer's Hosting Services. The Runtime includes networking code you may use with infrastructure you provide. Summer-hosted multiplayer for an Exported Game is a separate paid service under the Multiplayer Hosting Terms and the Fee and Rates Schedule, requiring an active Account in good standing.

4.8 Lawful distribution. You must not distribute an Exported Game in violation of applicable law, including United States export control and sanctions laws, and must not distribute an Exported Game containing content that infringes third-party rights. The Summer Games Community Standards and Content Maturity Policy do not otherwise apply to off-Platform distribution of Exported Games. Distribution into China is your own business through third-party channels; Summer operates no store, Sparks economy or hosting there.

4.9 Only wholly-owned Games. You may export only a Game you wholly own: a Game that contains no other Creator's content under a Mod license and no Asset Library asset whose license forbids export (the Editor flags Platform-only assets in the export flow). Mods are not exportable at launch. If Summer later permits export of Mods, the Network Share Schedule will state how a Network Share applies to off-platform revenue.

4.10 Content removed under the DMCA and Intellectual Property Policy. The license in Section 3 does not extend to distributing, inside an Exported Game, content that Summer removed or disabled under the DMCA and Intellectual Property Policy and has not restored (because no counter notification was received, or because the claimant notified Summer within the statutory period that it had filed a court action), or content that a court of competent jurisdiction has held to infringe third-party rights. If such content is in an Exported Game you have already distributed, you must remove it from new copies within ten business days after Summer's notice, and Summer may terminate this Runtime License as to that Exported Game under Section 9.2 if you do not. Summer may treat repeat infringement, as the DMCA and Intellectual Property Policy defines it, as a material breach of this Runtime License. End User copies remain protected by Section 9.4(a).

5. Your responsibilities as publisher

5.1 You are the publisher. As between you and Summer, you are solely responsible for each Exported Game, including its content, quality, marketing, pricing, sales, taxes, End User support, refunds, warranty obligations, age ratings, accessibility and compliance with the laws of every jurisdiction where you distribute it. Revenue you earn from Exported Games is not a Program Payment; the Creator Tax Addendum, including its US federal tax treatment of Program Payments, the US-Source Share and Summer's withholding and reporting, does not apply to it, and you account for your own taxes on Exported Game sales as the seller.

5.2 Privacy and data. If your Exported Game collects personal information from End Users, you are the controller. The Summer Games Privacy Policy does not cover Exported Games, and the Runtime, as shipped by the export process, does not transmit End User data to Summer. [LAUNCH GATE: network capture of a release export at first launch shows no connection to any Summer host.] A debug export may include a local debugger that connects only to your own Editor; it is not present in a release export and sends nothing to Summer. If you use Summer's Hosting Services for an Exported Game, the Creator Data Processing Addendum governs Summer's processing on your behalf.

5.3 No representation of endorsement. You must not state or imply that Summer publishes, endorses, certifies or is responsible for your Exported Game. Any use of Summer's names or logos is governed exclusively by the Summer Brand Guidelines and is optional. Being Featured by Summer, as defined in the Summer Dictionary, is editorial promotion after publication; it is not publication, endorsement or certification of your Exported Game, and it does not permit you to state otherwise.

5.4 Your End User terms. You must present End Users with your own end user agreement and, where you collect personal information, your own privacy notice. Your agreement must state that Summer is not a party to it, is not the publisher of the Exported Game, and has no support or maintenance obligation to End Users, and must not conflict with Section 3.3. As to the Runtime, your end user agreement must be no less protective of Summer and its licensors than Sections 4.2, 4.3, 10 and 11 of this Runtime License.

6. Ownership

6.1 Summer and its licensors own the Runtime. The Proprietary Modules and all intellectual property in them remain the exclusive property of Summer and its licensors. Embedding the Runtime in your Exported Game transfers no ownership to you or any End User.

6.2 You own your Game content. As the Summer Games Terms of Service state, you retain all rights you hold in your Game's content. Nothing here grants Summer any additional license to your Exported Game beyond the licenses you granted for the on-Platform version, and the Section 11 license in the Summer Games Terms of Service does not extend to copies distributed off-Platform except as needed to operate any Hosting Services you buy.

6.3 Open Source Components remain owned by their contributors and licensed under their licenses.

7. Open source components

7.1 MIT base. The Runtime is built on Godot Engine 4 (MIT License) together with the other Open Source Components in the Third-Party Software Notices. Those licenses grant you rights directly, independent of this Runtime License. 7.2 How the layers interact. This Runtime License governs the Runtime as an integrated whole including the Proprietary Modules. Where any provision conflicts with a right granted by an open source license with respect to an Open Source Component, the open source license controls for that component. Nothing entitles you to the Proprietary Modules on open source terms, and the Proprietary Modules are not derivative works of any copyleft component. The Third-Party Software Notices are generated from the Engine's COPYRIGHT.txt, the file in which the Engine records every third-party component and its license, so that the Notices and the shipped Runtime cannot drift apart. [LAUNCH GATE: copyleft audit, a build-level software bill of materials of a shipped export template showing no GPL or LGPL component statically linked into the Proprietary Modules, to be completed before launch.] 7.3 Notices. Compliance with Section 4.1 is intended to satisfy the attribution requirements of the open source licenses; you are independently responsible if you repackage the Exported Game.

8. Updates, versions and support

8.1 No update obligation. Summer has no obligation to update, patch or maintain the Runtime, or to keep any export target available. Copies already distributed keep the Runtime version they shipped with. 8.2 Re-export. While your Account is open and in good standing, you may re-export with newer Runtime versions as the Editor makes them available, subject to the version of this Runtime License then in effect. 8.3 Security releases. Summer may publish a patched Runtime and notify affected Creators; coordinated disclosure follows the Vulnerability Disclosure Policy. 8.4 No Platform services. Exported Games receive no Platform services; any online feature beyond connectivity you provide (or Hosting Services you buy) is your responsibility.

9. Term, termination and what survives

9.1 Term. This Runtime License takes effect on first acceptance and continues until terminated under this Section.

9.2 Termination for cause. Summer may terminate this Runtime License, in whole or as to a specific Exported Game, if (a) you materially breach a condition in Section 4 and fail to cure within thirty days after written notice (or immediately, without cure, for breaches of Section 4.2, 4.3, 4.6 or 4.9, or breaches incapable of cure; for Section 4.10, after the period stated in that Section); or (b) your Account is terminated for cause under the Summer Games Terms of Service. Summer does not terminate this Runtime License for convenience.

9.3 Ordinary account closure: the portability commitment. If you close your Account voluntarily, if it is closed other than for cause, or if Summer discontinues the Platform, this Runtime License is NOT terminated. Your license under Section 3 survives indefinitely for Games you exported before closure, and the conditions in Section 4 continue to apply except Section 4.5, which falls away with the Account. This Section implements Section 15 of the Summer Games Terms of Service: your Exported Games remain yours to distribute. The licenses in Sections 3.1, 3.3 and 3.4 are licenses of rights to intellectual property as defined in 11 U.S.C. 101(35A). If Summer becomes a debtor in a case under title 11 of the United States Code and this Runtime License is rejected, the parties intend that you and each End User may elect to retain your rights under 11 U.S.C. 365(n), and that the Runtime and the Notices File already delivered to you are embodiments of that intellectual property that you may retain.

9.4 Effect of termination for cause. (a) End User copies survive. Termination does not revoke the End User license in Section 3.3 for any copy lawfully obtained before termination, and Summer will not pursue End Users. (b) Wind-down for new copies. Your right to distribute new copies ends 90 days after termination for cause; during that period you may continue through channels already live, to allow an orderly wind-down, but may not launch on new channels. (c) Exception for Sparks, intellectual property, child safety, terrorism and sanctions breaches. If termination is for breach of Section 4.6; because a court or the DMCA and Intellectual Property Policy process has determined that the Exported Game infringes third-party rights; because your Account was terminated under the Child Safety and CSAE Policy; because the Exported Game contains terrorist or violent extremist content as the Summer Games Community Standards describe it; or for breach of Section 4.8 or 13.7 (lawful distribution, export control and sanctions), Summer may require distribution of new copies to stop immediately.

9.5 Your project files. Independently of this Runtime License, the Summer Games Terms of Service commit Summer to let you keep copies of your projects and export them in a Godot-compatible format, including on Account closure or Platform wind-down. Nothing here limits that.

9.6 Survival. Sections 1.4, 3.3 (as to copies already distributed), 3.4, 4.1 through 4.4, 4.6, 4.9 and 4.10 (as applied to any surviving distribution right), 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 survive termination or expiration.

10. Disclaimers

10.1 THE RUNTIME IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE", WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, SUMMER AND ITS LICENSORS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. SUMMER DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE RUNTIME WILL BE ERROR-FREE, SECURE OR COMPATIBLE WITH ANY DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL'S REQUIREMENTS. 10.2 Summer makes no warranty to End Users, and you must not make warranties on Summer's behalf. 10.3 Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties; to that extent the exclusions apply to the maximum extent permitted.

11. Limitation of liability

11.1 TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, SUMMER AND ITS LICENSORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE UNDER THIS RUNTIME LICENSE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST REVENUE, LOST DATA OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION. 11.2 TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, SUMMER'S TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF THIS RUNTIME LICENSE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) ONE HUNDRED US DOLLARS (USD 100) AND (B) THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID SUMMER FOR SERVICES RELATED TO THE EXPORT FEATURE IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO LIABILITY. 11.3 Nothing here excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law, including for fraud or gross negligence where such limitation is not permitted.

12. Indemnification

You will defend, indemnify and hold harmless Summer, its affiliates and their officers, directors, employees and agents from any third-party claim and resulting damages, liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of: (a) your Exported Games, including their content and your commerce in them; (b) your distribution activities, including your agreements with distribution channels and End Users; (c) your breach of this Runtime License; or (d) your violation of law in connection with an Exported Game. Summer may participate in the defense with its own counsel at its own expense, and you may not settle in a manner that imposes obligations on Summer without Summer's prior written consent.

13. General terms

13.1 Governing law and disputes. California law governs, without regard to conflict of laws principles. Disputes are subject to the dispute resolution provisions of the Summer Games Terms of Service (informal dispute resolution period, individual arbitration under the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules, 30-day opt-out, small-claims carve-out, batching protocol, class action waiver, jury waiver), incorporated by reference. For matters not subject to arbitration, exclusive venue lies in the state and federal courts in San Francisco County, California.

13.2 Assignment. You may not assign this Runtime License without Summer's prior written consent, except in its entirety together with the associated Game in connection with a merger, acquisition or sale of substantially all assets of your business, with written notice. Summer may assign it to an affiliate or in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization or sale of assets, subject to Section 9.3.

13.3 Severability and waiver. 13.4 Entire agreement; order of precedence. This Runtime License, with the documents it incorporates, is the entire agreement regarding reproduction and distribution of the Runtime in Exported Games. In conflict: (a) this Runtime License controls over the Summer Games Terms of Service as to Runtime redistribution; (b) open source licenses control as Section 7.2 states; (c) the Multiplayer Hosting Terms control as to hosting; (d) the Asset Library License Terms control as to embedded library assets.

13.5 Changes. Summer may update this Runtime License prospectively. An updated version applies to exports you perform after it takes effect and is presented in the Editor before your next export. An update does not change the terms applicable to copies distributed, or builds created, under a prior version, and no update will impose fees on Games already exported (Section 3.5) or remove the survival in Section 9.3 for Games already exported. If you do not agree, do not export; your existing rights under prior versions are unaffected.

13.6 Notices. Legal notices to Summer: Summer Labs, Inc., 2810 N Church St, STE 89812, Wilmington, DE 19802, United States, copy to support@summerengine.com. Summer may notify you through the Editor, the Platform or your Account email. 13.7 Export control. You represent that you are not located in, and will not distribute Exported Games into, any jurisdiction where distribution would violate United States export control or sanctions laws, and that you are not on any US restricted party list. 13.8 Independent parties; no third-party beneficiaries. You and Summer are independent contracting parties, and nothing in this Runtime License creates a partnership, joint venture, agency or employment relationship between you and Summer. This Runtime License creates no rights in any third party, except that: (a) End Users are intended beneficiaries of Sections 3.3 and 9.4(a), enforceable only through Summer; and (b) Summer's licensors of the Proprietary Modules, including any Summer affiliate described in Section 3.6, are intended beneficiaries of Sections 10 and 11, enforceable only through Summer. No licensor of an Open Source Component is a beneficiary of this Runtime License; each such licensor's rights arise only under its own license, as the Third-Party Software Notices Section 8.2 states.

Version 2026-09-28T19:24:20.585Z. Document hash a0c440fbbb367b03. Source of truth is the Summer Games Legal master; this page is its published text.

Summer Labs, Inc., 2810 N Church St, STE 89812, Wilmington, DE 19802, United States. Questions: support@summerengine.com. Player terms, privacy and refund policies live at summer.games.