Unity Technologies has made a major change to how it charges developers for using its engine. Starting January 1, 2024, Unity will begin charging a fee for every time a game is installed, with fees dependent on which subscription to Unity a developer has. Once a game has surpassed a threshold of $200,000 in revenue and 200,000 installs and are in either the Unity Personal or Unity Plus subscription tier, a "Unity Runtime Fee" will be applied to the development team. Those subscribed to Unity Pro, which is a tier that Unity will soon be retiring, or Unity Enterprise, will instead be charged fees once a game has made $1,000,000 and has been installed 1,000,000 times.

Depending on which tier a creator is a part of, these new changes could see developers charged as much as $0.20 every single time a game is installed by a user after the threshold is surpassed. It has been confirmed that if an owner of a game were to install a game, delete it, and redownload it, it would cost the developer money, if they were already past the limit. This will also retroactively apply to already released games as well.

Smaller developers have expressed their concerns over these changes, with some concerned about how pirated game installs will cost them, the impact it will have on free to play titles, or that Xbox Game Pass installs will also count, and have the potential to see smaller companies put at risk because of it.

SIGH pic.twitter.com/YgJEKGVQEI

— AGGRO CRAB (@AggroCrabGames) September 12, 2023

Additionally, Unity's own CEO, John Riccitiello, sold 2,000 shares of the company stock just prior to the announcement of the new Unity Runtime Fees.

 

[Ryccardo]

The executable is already always identical across all installs, so they (Unity) need to track it differently. What this likely ends up as is telemetry baked into the game, a session token that will be created on first launch uniquely to each PC and time stamped, then they'll count that as an install [...]

Well the article at least is saying "install" which has an estabilished meaning in leading operating systems, look I didn't vote for everyone trying to screw each other but if they want it this way don't complain when you're treated the same

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

Absolutely insane to even make his public.

This policy WILL be retracted or Unity will literally be abandoned em masse.

What a disaster.

 

[stanleyopar2000]

I remember when that motherfucker Riccitiello once said like "If you don't fill your game to the brim with monetization and such, you're an idiot" or something along those lines.
Well, guess that guy and unity can both go fuck themselves now, good job ruining everything for everyone.

This is also the company that effectively acquired and killed Parsec

 

[MariArch]

Welp. Time for another 5 years of silksong delay LMAO

 

[SylverReZ]

If Unity wasn't accquired by someone else, then this shit wouldn't happen.

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

 

[linuxares]

https://www.pcgamesn.com/cult-of-the-lamb/deleted I hope more studios threaten with this

 

[Bladexdsl]

one good thing might come of this we will be rid of Genshin Impact

 

[gudenau]

They are not allowed to do this!

 

[linuxares]

one good thing might come of this we will be rid of Genshin Impact

Pfft... those .20 cents or whatever fee is nothing for them

 

[DarkCoffe64]

This is also the company that effectively acquired and killed Parsec

Wait what, what happened with Parsec now?
I've used it occasionally to play with some friends online, but never heard anything, like, negative regarding it?
Like, out of the loop/living under a rock here, uh

 

[Ampersound]

'It has been confirmed that if an owner of a game were to install a game, delete it, and redownload it, it would cost the developer money'
Say what now? That makes zero sense and Unity can go fuck themselves.

 

[codezer0]

Considering the obscene amount of asset flips that still permeate storefronts today, I should be happy to see this method to bite them in the ass. Yet even I think this method of monetization is about 200+ steps too far. It's some real 1984 styles of villainy, and I don't blame anyone that dips immediately from Unity going forward.

 

[jordash25]

Mammon

 

[raxadian]

How to kill your App Step 5, monetize it so much it is ridiculous.

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

Considering the obscene amount of asset flips that still permeate storefronts today, I should be happy to see this method to bite them in the ass. Yet even I think this method of monetization is about 200+ steps too far. It's some real 1984 styles of villainy, and I don't blame anyone that dips immediately from Unity going forward.

Afaik this monetization only affects big sellers. Like $1,000,000 revenue or 1,000,000+ installs.

So your average asset flip with 150 sales on steam won't really be affected.

 

[Dimensional]

Shit like this is why I was never a fan of Unity. They just keep making changes that piss people off. Doesnt help that every god damn engine update breaks my projects.

Post automatically merged: Sep 13, 2023

That is more due to the console SDKs not working with the model that Godot uses. Open source stuff does not mix well.

https://w4games.com/2023/02/28/godot-support-for-consoles-is-coming-courtesy-of-w4-games/ - It's being worked on.

Post automatically merged: Sep 14, 2023

how good of games can godot do? then again isn't it under that license where you can't profit since it's open source and free?

I believe the license for Godot allows for monetizing your game. It's editing the source code of the engine that I think can't be profited off of directly.

 

[SeventhSon7]

So this confirms Unity is spyware

 

[17hitcombooo]

meanwhile a decade ago unity's ceo was the ceo of electronic arts until 2014. this dude proposed the idea of having players pay to reload everytime in battlefield.

he needs to be stopped. the stupid fucking unity fees will damage the company guaranteed.

 

[Error-1-2435-8325]

The Virgin Unity and the Chads Godot, Unreal Engine, Stencyl, and GameMaker Studio.