Following a large community backlash after the popular game engine creator Unity announced plans for it to charge a "per install" fee; the company has apologised for "confusion" surrounding the plans and have stated that they will be "making changes to the policy" going forward.

For those unfamiliar - a week ago, Unity announced plans for new fees based on game installs. In practice, the proposed changes would effectively cost game publishers up to $0.20 every single time a game is installed or even reinstalled by a user. But unsurprisingly these plans were met with controversy and disdain from those developers using the platform as well as the community at large, with many game creators speaking out on social media with some even going as far as to announce plans to move over to competing game engine platforms.

Today, Unity took to X/Twitter with an apology and said that there was a "confusion" surrounding the plans and that they would be making adjustments to the policy after feedback from the community.

We have heard you. We apologize for the confusion and angst the runtime fee policy we announced on Tuesday caused. We are listening, talking to our team members, community, customers, and partners, and will be making changes to the policy. We will share an update in a couple of…

— Unity (@unity) September 17, 2023

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[8BitWonder]

Great for folks that were wrapping up their titles (assuming they walk it all the way back and not just revise it slightly), but folks really ought to just stop using Unity anyway.

It feels like every year they make a new shitty move, and I personally wouldn't trust them not to continue that trend at this point.

 

[NinStar]

people need to continue the revolt against corrupt game companies. games where never meant to cost thousands of dollars and suck the livelyhood out of u. game developers want to treat it like the health care industry and nickel and dime you for everything until the most basic of care is millions of dollars.

if people dont fight back with there wallets and make it known why they are not buying greedy morally unsound game companies pricing well be paying $200 a game soon and $70 a dlc.

This may sound ironic, but a few developers are encouraging people to do the exact opposite of what you are saying: "buy as many Unity games as possible before the changes are applied" which is still benefiting Unity if their games sales are above the existing threshold.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Deleted member 194275]

DRM embedded on game code is the real problem, how big corps will monetize their stuff is just a detail.

 

[Bladexdsl]

Reminds me on all of the Shovel ware on the Switch. They be allowing straight up hentai games on there :/

and this is why i pirate so i don't make the mistake of giving these noob unity devs money!

 

[codezer0]

Oh, there is no mistake.

I thought legitimately, that John Riccitello was dead and buried, if not out of the industry. I was surprised to find out that he's the CEO of Unity. With that in mind, I'm more surprised he didn't try this stunt sooner.

He's made it abundantly clear he wants to monetize in the slimiest way possible.

 

[Ryab]

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Following a large community backlash after the popular game engine creator Unity announced plans for it to charge a "per install" fee; the company has apologised for "confusion" surrounding the plans and have stated that they will be "making changes to the policy" going forward.

For those unfamiliar - a week ago, Unity announced plans for new fees based on game installs. In practice, the proposed changes would effectively cost game publishers up to $0.20 every single time a game is installed or even reinstalled by a user. But unsurprisingly these plans were met with controversy and disdain from those developers using the platform as well as the community at large, with many game creators speaking out on social media with some even going as far as to announce plans to move over to competing game engine platforms.

Today, Unity took to X/Twitter with an apology and said that there was a "confusion" surrounding the plans and that they would be making adjustments to the policy after feedback from the community.

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• Don't you all remember when their CEO told all mobile developers that if they didn't focus the game 90% on monetization that they are "fucking morons?"
• Don't you remember last year when they merged with IronSource a company that is basically entirely known for making malware?
• Don't you remember how a week ago they changed their rules to the point where it would basically bankrupt developers for making games?

I genuinely do not see why anybody trusts them. They get themselves into a new controversy basically every year at this point. They do not deserve another chance.

 

[m00k00]

Let's not only put blame on the CEO of Unity. That would be too easy, honestly. Yes, this man is absolutely the worst capitalist the gaming industry has ever seen and he would probably rip everyone off just to squeeze a little bit more profit and bonuses out for himself, but let's not forget that some at Unity hired this guy and let him do all those things. Usually this is called the Management Board, sometimes the Leadership Team. Some people sitting on those floors thought it would be a good idea to hire this guy, even after everything which he has done at EA, where he basically fucked up everything beyond recognition for short-term profits. We all still remember how this shit backfired hard and EA was called the worst Game Publisher from that point on. Still these people at Unity thought giving this prick another home where he can fuck-up everyone in the industry again would be a good idea. This basically only leaves one option to correct the current course: the CEO needs to get fired and the Board / Leadership team, whatever you want to call these morons need to get fired, too. Honestly, everyone there should be so ashamed of themselves that I really wonder these people have resigned, yet. Sometimes I wish the world was more like Japan: these people would all have lost their face by now and they would be brave enough to draw their own consequences, but then this is the western world: you fuck up and you move on. What a pity ...

 

[Marc_LFD]

PayPal: announces $5000 fine for saying things that they don't like, backtracks only to silently re-implement it

I closed my PayPal account after that bullshit, and, you know, I didn't feel PayPal was ever too secure for customers as it's not FDIC covered (or if you're in Canada: CDIC / England: FSCS).

People need to be careful where they store their money because if someone steals it, there's a high chance they ain't gonna see it again.

This man got his money back after a check of his got stolen, but he spent two years researching the thief.



Neither the bank nor the police were of any use to him in this case. If it weren't for him, he'd not have it back.

 

[SS4]

The damage has been done already since the trust is already lost so whatever they do won't amount to much.
Its just a PR move that might fool a few ppl . . .

 

[GengarsGhostlyGiggles]

they are apologizing for our confusion ?
WTF, what a bunch of clowns in america.

Post automatically merged: Sep 18, 2023

Oh, there is no mistake.

I thought legitimately, that John Riccitello was dead and buried, if not out of the industry. I was surprised to find out that he's the CEO of Unity. With that in mind, I'm more surprised he didn't try this stunt sooner.

He's made it abundantly clear he wants to monetize in the slimiest way possible.

John Riccitello seems to be extremely well connected with the Democrat political circles in America.
He fundraised personally for Barack Obama, and was invited to the white house a bunch of times to set America's TECH DIRECTION (holy shitballs ).

WTF, no wonder he keeps failing upwards.

 

[PizzaTimeJoshua]

Feel like Unity already burned some bridges with some of its users with the terrible policy. "[We] will be making changes to the policy." They are changing the policy, not getting rid of it. They're trying to do something bad and see how they can try and get away with it. Hell, even with a complete reverting of the policy, I bet many people won't trust Unity. They may try this again in the future, so some user may elect to permanently change their preferred engine

 

[xdarkx]

The only change people want from the company is for them to backtrack this new fee policy they are planning to implement next year and an proper apology. In any case, this reminds of Wizard of the Coast and Dungeons & Dragons' debacle that happened not too long ago.

 

[YukidaruPunch]

Thanks for Hollow Knight and Sayonara Wild Hearts, see you again never. No sane developer will choose this engine in new projects from now on. They'll conclude the ones that are deep into production already and never look back. You don't get a second chance at ruining people's trust after such a colossal eff-up. Games take years to make and this single decision almost ruined some projects and future careers.

 

[Kitocco]

We have heard you.​

Yeah nah, sorry but any "apology" that starts like that will lose me. And this only further proves my case.
Real Channel Awesome "We sincerely regret you felt that way" kind of mad-we-got-caught energy.

 

[Lodad]

You don't take a week to put out a clarification and tell people they're just confused. They were trying to wait out the dumpster fire and realized after a few days they were going to be losing money. This is purely damage control for the sake of share prices.

 

[Xzi]

A lot of damage has already been done just by the announcement being made in the first place. That demonstrates a total lack of common sense within the company's upper management, so who's gonna put trust in them ever again?

 

[SeventhSon7]

"Sorry that we revealed that Unity is spyware."

 

[StrayGuitarist]

These motherfuckers legitimately used the word "angst" to describe people getting frustrated at a shit policy. Holy fuck.

 

[nWo]

Great. Now I hope the comunity remembers that shit, and they see a BIG CHANGE on how developers use their shit. Because what they did was stupid. I really, really hope that this actions costs them dearly.

 

[Taleweaver]

Apologies mean nothing until Riccitiello buys back his stock at the price he sold it.

And that's even the intro of the start of the beginning of what unity has to do to regain any kind of trust. But I'm no developer, so I can't speak on their terms of what they'll need in terms of guarantees.


From my end, I want to know how I can get around my damn games fucking their own developers in the ass. It's one thing to try out a game before buying, but I really don't want to be a part of a hivemind that'll bankrupt some developer who got caught in the crossfire of this clusterfuck.


"Confusion" my ass.