I’ve just been reading on the forum that if you make a game using other people’s models and try and sell or even give it away, then you could get sued?

If that is the case, then what is the point in paying for models to put into your game if you can’t distribute it? Or is the information I’ve read wrong?

depends on the license, models you buy from game making stores are likely fine to use in your games (though some may be locked to specific engines - normally if they are sold with a very high discount for such purpose), you are not allowed to distribute the model themselves or sell them as your own work.
if you are serious about making a commercial game you should always use trusted media so you know where it comes from - it's not worth it to spend months / years making a game only to get it shut down because of an illegal model or 2.. always check the licenses - even free models will likely require you to credit the original artist in your game.

you are of course allowed to use models you have the rights for in your game otherwise, as you said, what's the point?

But what about the models in the GG Store? Plus, those that come as part of the GG software?

All GG assets are licensed for use in commercial games.

But as smallg said you should make sure every asset you use commercially has a suitable license, especially if you make any changes to it as many licenses specifically do not allow modification!

Third party models are usually classed as Personal or Commercial use and will be in the licence.

1 .. Commercial use you can use it in your game and sell it in your game but not as an individual model.
2 .. Personal use is for you only ... So if i go to sketchfab and buy a Batman figure it would probably be categorised as Personal use only which means you can use it personally but cannot sell your game or even legally distribute it for free due to the copyright of Batman.

Btw, I can fully understand the confusion aspect!

There are many different licenses out there and they all use various terminology expecting users to understand what they mean but the terms they include can be easily misunderstood.

Also it doesn't help when you have terms like "Creative Commons", some people who see that think that means the items covered by it are then free to use, alter, redistribute etc. Check here for full details of what "Creative Commons" actually means:https://creativecommons.org/

For example here is the Creative Commons definition of "NonCommercial":

"While the Creative Commons licenses have evolved over time, the scope of permitted uses under the NonCommercial licenses has remained unchanged across all license suites. (In 4.0, there was a small adjustment to the wording of the definition which was not intended to change its scope.) The NonCommercial clause prohibits the exercise of rights granted under the NonCommercial licenses “in any manner that is primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or monetary compensation.” In 2008, Creative Commons conducted a study on the meaning of NonCommercial in the online environment.

During the 4.0 process, CC took another look at the role of these licenses in general as well as the NonCommercial definition, and considered a name change to "Commercial Rights Reserved". The ultimate decision was to leave unchanged the license name and definition."

Makes my head hurt just reading it!

Agreed
My post was just the common sense version.
Despite the fact you legally purchase it if its a Batman Model, Avengers Character etc or anything that is copyrighted you cannot really use it.
Just avoid it in your game .. You can even get tagged for posting a video on YouTube if your demo or game has Copyright content which i myself have but if your lucky and its no real harm done they monetize it with Adverts

I have done Star Wars, Star Trek demos with GG but just call them Tribute Videos which is kind of .. This is It.

It's defo a mine field obviously.

Cheers for clearing it up. Very much appreciate your time.

All of the above comments are right on. Generally speaking, if you are purchasing an asset in an asset store, you are also purchasing the right to use that asset in a commercial game. This is the primary purpose of asset stores, no matter what the platform. Where it gets trickier is when you "purchase" free assets. This is where I get more strict about reading licenses. Make sure it is free to use in a commercial game, and keep track of attribution (credit to the artists).

Frankly, I think asset stores need to get a LOT more transparent and up front about this issue. Something like: Commercial use OK. Or: Attribution REQUIRED for commercial use. Burying permissions in legalese serves nobody. I think GC asset store is pretty clear last time I checked. Some other stores need to clear that crap up.

AmenMoses's point on Creative Commons is very good, too. A lot of people did think CC licenses allowed everyone to use whatever they wanted for whatever they wanted. Not true. The best stuff usually requires attribution at the least, but you can also find some stuff that is completely in the public domain.

And that's an expectation that gets people sued.

NEVER assume that because it is being sold you have any rights, always check. For example there are a ton of models on many asset stores that allow commercial, but only as part of an animated movie, there are others that allow commercial only in games, and others that allow use only in personal projects, it's all down to the artist that uploaded them to choose the options, and that's why when you look at things like the creative commons license page there's multiple variants of creative commons.

It's an absolute minefield

The short of it is this use it in your games like you want sell it, give away the game for free.
Things you can't do
Sell or give away the assets separately
Reverse engineer ( it was in the terms at some point don't know if it has been edited or removed.)
Re texture and modify assets and sell them separately( In other words you can't use the base model modify it a bit put a new texture on it and sell it)
License of assets is not transferable, the license lives and dies with you

TGC licenses aren't generally overly complicated.