COCOS is a cross-platform game development platform popular in Asian markets, known for lightweight mobile and in-app games. Earlier in November 2025, it was acquired by Chinese gamification giant SUD for $72 million.
Just two months after that, SUD has now announced that COCOS 4 is available under the MIT license, with all commercial restrictions removed.
The engine and editor have been separated. Previously, Cocos Creator referred to both components together across versions 1.x, 2.x, and 3.x. COCOS now means the engine only, and the number 4 denotes the latest release number.
On the other hand, PinK is the new standalone IDE for COCOS. It will work as a production pipeline with built-in Agents and most visual-focused features from Cocos Creator will move to PinK over time.
The open source release for COCOS comes with the engine core, cross-platform code, COCOS CLI, and full IDE headless mode. Cross-platform code covers all native platforms, with mini-game platform support rolling out gradually.
Core editing functions from the original Cocos Creator are transitioning to Headless Mode. These will be accessible via CLI and become part of the engine core.
SUD has set no direct commercialization targets for COCOS 4 (read: will it make them money?). They say that their focus is on reaching more developers and creating more game content critical to SUD's long-term business growth.
The open source approach was picked as it was the fastest path to AI-native functionality. The main argument is that AI can better understand open code and guide the engine to evolve in AI-friendly directions.
Pull requests are another goal. More PRs bring more developers. More developers make the engine stronger, basically like a feedback loop.
Global reach is yet another focus, where the COCOS team wants both game developers and AI developers worldwide to be brought into a unified open source game engine ecosystem.
Development Direction
COCOS 4 builds on Cocos Creator 3.x with forward compatibility, and it follows SemVer rules, keeping a minimum six-month window between deprecating something and removing it.
The developers are focusing on some key areas to take COCOS forward. AI features come first. New stuff will ship as MCPs or Agents rather than traditional libraries. The engine is getting lighter and faster to run on any device with a screen.
Cross-platform support is expanding to Steam and other platforms. Old bugs like the Spine-related one are getting fixed, and performance improvements target things like rich text and lists.
Moreover, developers can modify any part of the engine code. They can even build an entirely new engine based on COCOS 4 if it suits them.
If you are interested, then you will find the source code and necessary documentation for COCOS 4 on its GitHub repository.
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Sourav Rudra
