Unity Unity to charge developers per install.

[NylonBandit]

So I don't know how many of you keep up with Unity news, but yesterday they announced a new pricing model which has kind of kicked up a stink on social media. Like, a real big stink.

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Essentially, if your game passes the 200,000 (Personal users) or 1,000,000 (Pro) installs the dev will have to start paying Unity a set fee per install. This is regardless of how much the game is being charged. So if your game is F2P or selling for $1.00, or selling for $60, you could end up having to pay $0.20 to Unity. If the user then uninstalls and reinstalls the game, the dev will need to pay again. The fee also applies to early access, demos, and pirated copies of games.

 

[MarshmallowCasserole]

Yeah, that's one way to give Godot developement a boost. The flat fee model is... wild.

 

[Tompte]

This is going to hit hard for a lot of small developers. It's really bad news.

It won't affect me personally, other than maybe the next job opportunity probably won't include Unity. Smaller studios are going to look for alternatives, and if Godot doesn't fill the void something else will. Not just because of the added cost, but because Unity just proved to every developer they can't be trusted to have your back.

 

[peterppp]

yeah there are at least 3 threads about this in the general+off topic forum. it's not only installs though. it's 200k lifetime installs AND $200k revenue last 12 months - 1m/$1m for pro.

 

[anne O'nymous]

Essentially, if your game passes the 200,000 (Personal users) or 1,000,000 (Pro) installs the dev will have to start paying Unity a set fee per install.

Wrong.

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:
"What is happening to the revenue limit?
Effective January 1, 2024, we are removing the annual revenue limit of $100,000 USD for eligibility to use the Unity Personal plan.
Games made with Unity Personal that have made $200,000 USD or more per year AND with at least 200,000 lifetime installs, will be subject to the Unity Runtime Fee."
[Emphasis is mine]

 

[papel]

Another thread in this subforum talking about it - https://f95zone.to/threads/unity-tax-engine-alternatives.174418

Also, let me point to my own signature for a thread full of alternatives to Unity

 

[thaeral]

 

[Tompte]

And then the

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started coming in.

I mean... I'm not for that, but what the heck did they expect after threatening to take away literal years of hard work from a large group of passionate people? Small game devs, their largest userbase, are battered wives already.

That said, I do hope this has the effect of making the upper leadership think long and hard about the real consequences of their decision, even if that is wishful thinking on my part.

Like, a fee per install? On mobile, everyone is paying for installs already, because that's the model Apple and Google has shifted to over the years (it's called 'User acquisition') on top of the 30% revenue share on an already free game. We moved over to Unity to begin with in order to save costs (reduced dev time/ maintenance). Small mobile devs have been bled enough already and this may be what finally kills them.

 

[KogaClaws]

View attachment 2931834
And then the

You must be registered to see the links

started coming in.

I mean... I'm not for that, but what the heck did they expect after threatening to take away literal years of hard work from a large group of passionate people? Small game devs, their largest userbase, are battered wives already.

That said, I do hope this has the effect of making the upper leadership think long and hard about the real consequences of their decision, even if that is wishful thinking on my part.

Like, a fee per install? On mobile, everyone is paying for installs already, because that's the model Apple and Google has shifted to over the years (it's called 'User acquisition') on top of the 30% revenue share on an already free game. We moved over to Unity to begin with in order to save costs (reduced dev time/ maintenance). Small mobile devs have been bled enough already and this may be what finally kills them.

The death threats turned out to be from a Unity employee.

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[NylonBandit]

The death threats turned out to be from a Unity employee.

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I wouldn't be a surprised if that was a just a publicity stunt to distract from the negative press. Although with how many lives Unity has fucked over, it wouldn't surprise me either way... I don't condone death threats to the rank and file staff and I just doubt people would stoop that low. So my money would be on the former. I guess I just have faith in people.

A lot of F2P devs have turned off Unity Ads in retaliation, which IMO is a much more effective way of sending a message. At the end of the day the only thing these faceless corpo's fear is harm to the bottom line.

 

[papel]

People that give online death threats are always idiots, it gets a lot of attention and sympathy towards the victim and paints a huge "I'M A SUSPECT, WATCH ME" on their face.

Now, this death threat, despite Unity claiming it was "credible", seems very fishy.
* They didn't immediately name/expose said employee
* They didn't announce that they fired said employee
* They didn't expose the message(s) that were sent over social media
* The guy doesn't work in California, yet the California office was evacuated
* Said evacuation cancelled a "town hall" meeting with CEO John Riccitiello, ex EA head-asshole

I'm gonna wait for more credible evidence of this threat.

 

[anomajou]

they should be fired and sued for fraud, breach of contract, and insider trading. the fact that they previously allowed sticking with older terms, and then silently changed that clause and removed the repository with those older terms _is_ a breach of contract. and not even a californian judge high on weed on the hottest day of the year would find the new conditions enforceable. it doesn't matter how "reasonable" the prices might be, the same language would equally allow any greedy fuck whose software you happened to use for your creation to charge even $2'000'000 per install, retroactively and without consent. ready the lawsuits. and the pop corn.