The game utilizes Epic's Unreal Engine 4 and was planned for release for free on Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux.

[7] Unreal Tournament's development was crowdsourced and open to contribution from anyone[8][9] with Epic Games using forums for discussions and Twitch livestreams for updates.

[18][19][20] Paul Meegan, vice president of product development at Epic, followed Rein's tweet with information about the future of Unreal Tournament.

[23] During a Twitch livestream held on July 24 the same year, art director Chris Perna showed off a fully rendered but unfinished level in the Unreal Engine editor and talked about the overall look he wanted.

Originally, the build was only available to UE4 subscribers but thanks to the way the game is being developed, an Unreal community member was able to compile Epic's prototypes and to release them to the public.

It was intended to be released for free, reflecting the fact that it was in part created by a community of volunteers,[37][38] without microtransactions or gameplay-affecting items.

[39] To pay for the game, Epic intended to create a marketplace where developers, modders, artists, and players can buy and sell mods and content.

When asked whether the decision to release the game for free was a reflection of a wider industry trend, Steve Polge told Edge: "It's certainly where we are placing our bets and it is our focus at Epic.