Fab.com vs. Unity Asset Store: The 2026 Game Composer's Marketplace Guide

You've finished mixing your latest ambient soundtrack pack. Twenty tracks of atmospheric game music, professionally mastered and ready for sale. Now comes the question that trips up even experienced composers: where do you actually sell this thing?

Two platforms dominate the game audio marketplace in 2026: Epic's Fab.com and Unity's Asset Store. Each has distinct advantages, different revenue structures, and serves overlapping but not identical audiences. Choosing wrong—or failing to choose strategically—leaves money on the table.

This guide walks through both platforms, comparing the factors that actually matter: how much you keep per sale, who's buying, what it takes to publish, and which platform fits your situation.

Let's start with the number that matters most.

Fab.com revenue split: 88/12You keep 88 cents of every dollar. Epic takes 12 cents.

Unity Asset Store revenue split: 70/30You keep 70 cents of every dollar. Unity takes 30 cents.

The gap: 18 percentage points. On a $30 music pack, that's $26.40 in your pocket on Fab versus $21 on Unity—a $5.40 difference per sale.

Multiply across hundreds of sales annually, and these numbers start to sting:

For composers building passive income through royalty-free game music, these aren't rounding errors. They're rent payments, gear upgrades, and marketing budgets.

The 2025 GameSoundCon Industry Survey found U.S. and Canadian game audio professionals now average $155,198 in annual income—up 20% from 2023. Asset marketplace revenue contributes meaningfully to these figures for many in the industry. Platform choice directly affects your slice of that pie.

Revenue split matters, but only if people are buying. Understanding each platform's audience helps you sell smarter.

When Epic launched Fab in October 2024, they did something the old Unreal Engine Marketplace never did: opened the doors to everyone.

Fab explicitly supports content for Unity, Unreal, Godot, Blender, Maya, Cinema 4D, and dozens of other tools. If you're selling sound effects or background music for games, you're not locked into serving one engine's developer base.

This matters because audio assets are engine-agnostic by nature. A WAV file of orchestral combat music works identically whether the buyer uses Unity, Unreal, or a custom engine. Fab's positioning captures this reality.

Epic's broader ecosystem is substantial: 898 million cross-platform accounts and 295 million Epic Games Store PC users as of late 2024. While not all are game developers, Fab's integration into this ecosystem provides massive potential reach.

Here's an interesting wrinkle: industry data shows Unreal Engine titles capturing a larger share of game sales revenue in 2024, even as Unity powers more released titles by raw count. Bigger projects gravitate toward Unreal—and bigger projects typically have real audio budgets.

Here is Playbutton Media’s listing on Fab.com

Unity remains the most widely-used game engine by number of releases. Unity 6 approaches 10 million downloads. The platform dominates mobile game development and serves millions of indie developers worldwide.

The Asset Store launched in 2010. That's 15 years of accumulated trust, buyer accounts, purchase histories, and operational refinement. When a Unity developer needs game audio quickly, the Asset Store is often their first—and only—destination.

This establishment cuts both ways. Buyers exist and spend money. But competition is fierce. The audio category is mature and crowded. New publishers fight for visibility against assets with years of reviews and sales rankings.

And here is Playbutton Media’s listing on the Unity Asset Store.

Many developers work across engines. A mobile developer might prototype their next PC game in Unreal. Studios run projects on different engines simultaneously. These buyers shop both marketplaces.

But significant portions of each audience stay platform-specific. Unity-only developers might never browse Fab. Unreal specialists might ignore the Unity Asset Store entirely.

The question you need to answer: do you want depth in one market or breadth across both?

Publishing requirements differ substantially. Understanding these before you commit saves real frustration.

Selling on Unity Asset Store means working within Unity's ecosystem—even for pure audio content.

Setting up is straightforward. Register through Unity's Publisher Portal, complete identity verification, set up payment processing. No surprises here.

The friction point: packaging. Unity Asset Store packages must be built within Unity. You can't simply upload WAV files to a web portal.

Here's the actual workflow:

If you already work in Unity, this is seamless. If you've never touched it, budget several hours to learn the packaging workflow. It's not complicated once you understand it, but the learning curve is real.

Review takes time. Complete your metadata—title, description, keywords, preview images, audio samples—and submit for review. Unity's team evaluates quality and guideline compliance. Expect one to two weeks for approval, sometimes longer during busy periods.

Fab simplified publishing compared to both Unity Asset Store and the old Unreal Engine Marketplace.

Registration is similar. Create an Epic Games account, register through fab.com/become-a-publisher, complete verification and payment setup.

The big difference: direct upload. Fab doesn't require engine-specific packaging for standard audio content. Upload your WAV, MP3, or OGG files directly through the web portal. Organize with clear naming and folder structure, add your metadata, select licensing terms, submit.

For composers without game development backgrounds, Fab feels closer to traditional stock music platforms. Upload files, add descriptions, submit. Unity requires learning its toolchain even for audio-only products.

Review is generally faster. As a newer platform, processes are still evolving, but the workflow is more straightforward than Unity's.

Fifteen years of continuous operation provides confidence. Publishers document earnings ranging from supplemental income to five-figure monthly revenue, depending on catalog quality and size.

The infrastructure works. Payments process reliably, buyers have spending habits, search and discovery systems are proven.

But Unity's corporate turbulence in 2023—the Runtime Fee controversy that sparked developer backlash, followed by leadership changes and layoffs—shook confidence in the company's direction. The Asset Store continues operating normally, but long-term platform trust matters when you're building a business.

The 70/30 split also faces increasing pressure. As competitors offer better terms, creators question why Unity maintains old-school margins.

Epic launched Fab with significant resources behind it. The platform unifies four previous marketplaces (Unreal Marketplace, Sketchfab, ArtStation Marketplace, Quixel) into a single destination.

The roadmap is aggressive: expanded format support, enhanced seller analytics, improved discovery systems, deeper integration across Epic's ecosystem. Epic explicitly positions Fab for metaverse content, film/TV production, architecture visualization—not just game development.

The honest risk: new platforms carry uncertainty. Buyer behavior patterns aren't established yet. Discovery algorithms haven't been tested at scale. Early publishers are building on infrastructure that's still being refined.

Different situations call for different strategies. Here's how I'd think about it:

Start with Fab. The higher revenue percentage means more return while you learn what sells. Simpler upload workflows reduce friction during your learning curve. And building presence now on a growing platform positions you well as it matures.

Once you understand what sells and how to market effectively, consider expanding to Unity.

Add Fab, but don't abandon Unity. Your existing catalog generates proven revenue. Don't disrupt what's working. Instead, start publishing new releases to Fab while maintaining your Unity presence.

Track performance across both platforms. Over time, data will show where your audience actually concentrates. Let that inform how you prioritize.

Prioritize Fab for economics. At significant volume, the 18% difference becomes substantial. A producer generating $50,000 annually keeps $44,000 on Fab versus $35,000 on Unity—that's $9,000 you're leaving on the table.

Maintain your Unity catalog for buyers who exclusively shop there, but direct your production energy toward the better-paying platform.

Unity stays primary. Unity dominates mobile development. If your specialty is hypercasual sound effects, casual game music, or mobile puzzle soundtracks, your buyers live in Unity's ecosystem.

Fab as a secondary channel captures spillover, but Unity is where your core audience shops.

Lean toward Fab. Higher-budget projects trend toward Unreal. Fab's connection to Epic's ecosystem and its positioning for film, TV, and high-end game production aligns with premium audio content.

The buyers with substantial audio budgets are increasingly in Fab's orbit.

Choosing between Fab.com and Unity Asset Store in 2026 comes down to weighing a few key factors:

Economics: Fab wins clearly. 88/12 beats 70/30 on every sale.

Established audience: Unity wins on track record. Proven buyers with established spending habits.

Publishing ease: Fab wins for non-Unity users. Web-based uploads beat engine-integrated packaging.

Platform stability: Unity wins on history. Fab wins on resource backing.

Growth trajectory: Fab appears positioned for expansion. Unity maintains a strong position but faces mounting competition.

For most composers, the optimal strategy is publish on both platforms if you have the capacity. Capture Fab's superior economics while maintaining Unity's established audience access.

If you have to choose one: Fab's revenue split makes it the default recommendation unless your audience is specifically Unity-centric.

The 18% per-sale difference is simply too significant to ignore. Over a catalog's lifetime, that gap compounds into substantial money—money that belongs in your pocket, not the platform's.

Build strategically. Price confidently. And stop leaving 18% on the table without a good reason.

Need help finding background music that boosts engagement? 🎧 Explore our licensing catalog or work with Playbutton Media to get custom-curated music tailored to your content goals.