Important updates to the Unity Runtime Fee policy

[Sandler]

@hurleybird

It wasn’t. The new fees won’t even come close to offsetting the damage done. If the original install fee scheme was seen as necessary to right the ship financially, well, the ship is so much closer to capsizing now than it was before.

Watch Unity’s financials closely over the next few quarters. If they can’t get their spending under control or find a buyer, they will squeeze you for more and more.

was being sarcastic^^

but yeah it is what it is. they had 2019 - 2,715 full-time employees. now its 7700. nearly 3x as many in 4 years.

at the same time 50% of all mobile games are made with it. if they cant become profitable idk who can.

most if not all devs want unity to succeed, since it takes very long to get good in this engine. and its a good engine. and most are also fine to pay a reasonable amount of their revenue. unity should have had revenue share models in place way earlier, since they had no major competition in the mobile sector.

but who knows what the plan was. The backslash was not because they needed more money but because of how insane the fee per install was, how ludicrously it was communicated. Together with the TOS changes and all the weird business decisions before and their CEOs statements in the past and everything it really was a 9.8+ out of 10 bad.

So yeah they will lose developers and it will strengthen Godot, which will be something quite a few of us will take a look at as soon as our dev circle is over. And if unity cant solidify a profitable buisness model till then, while improving their Engine & improving their AD business, then maybe its better for everyone to work elsewhere. Its basically get your shit together executives at unity

[karl_jones]

@Infinite-3D

Because plus is no longer available? Pro costs 4.5x as much, which is a huge increase just to remove a splash screen.

Plus subscribers have the option of staying on plus for another year (see pricing info). After which you can then move to 2023 LTS and move to personal edition.
If you don’t want to upgrade then you will need to move to pro in order to remove the splash screen.

[sayginkarahan]

@NeedsLoomis

Last time I checked, its a may require pro situation, depending on your publisher and stuff.

Outside of that though, ideally console and PC would all be the same, yeah, but PC is open while console makers require complicated hoops to jump through, like various license agreements, fees, keys, subsidations, and etc. Pro on your end represents the cost of doing business on Unity’s end. Typically when console makers loosen these things, so does Unity, like the Xbox creator program was free for Unity devs when I was checking it out.

The Xbox Creator program is a different tier from the ID XBOX program. If you want to create a normal game using 2GB of RAM or more, you should join the ID XBOX program and acquire the development kit. However, we are also required to pay for the Pro licenses upfront. On the other hand, consoles like PS and Switch have agreements with Unity, allowing them to share Unity Pro for free. Unfortunately, Xbox does not have such an agreement, which forces us to purchase the Pro version from day one. I believe this is not fair. Unity should encourage developers to publish their games on consoles more effectively. @DairyFan28

[LeftyTwoGuns]

@SinDeSiecle

No, it is not. It is just a tool placed there for an unknown purpose that will be initiated at a later time. Ask yourself, why are they insisting on this idea so hard? There should be a reason behind this, and after all of that angst, they might be just trying to hide those intensions with the word “option”.

There is no tool. It’s a self reported metric that the FAQ has already provided reasonable guidelines on calculating and will provide more at a later date. And they’ve explained several times why they chose this fee, because it gives them the revenue they need to expand Unity while also being cheaper than their competition. Basic 3rd grade math confirms this.

[laurentlavigne]

I have to say that it is extremely difficult to do the right thing when you run a company. So many moving parts and opposing priorities to juggle. I’m glad this happened through: it was good to see the community together instead of bickering about trivialities, and even got some players support.

If the TOS echoes the blog post, I think it’s very reasonable:

• 2.5% is half of Unreal which is far more production ready out of the box. Fair.

• start this new TOS in 2024. Fairer.

• That’ll force us, small devs, to lock on a version instead of toying with betas.

• That’ll force them to make REAL progress on those new releases to compel us.

• lock TOS to version. Fairest of them all.

• It funds Unity on the back of our success. which is excellent as it will (hopefully) motivate more focused development that actually serves us. Hey listen, we’re all servant to someone or something, either it’s God, god money, the boss, the wife, our compulsions, might as well benefit the greater number.

Unity probably will try to frog boil us, but reality is not immutable anyway. Now at least have alternative that would never have grown this fast without the fuckup.

This will create a counterbalance to their quasi monopoly on some platforms (and in our hearts, amiright?).

One engine I recommend is Flax.
It has less buzz than godot but I think it is about to change. Its architecture makes sense to me (does godot even have an architecture? lol). It has less features than Unity, obv, but they’re all super focused and very relevant. Finally, look at this release cadence! How do they do it?

[Murgilod]

@CodeSmile

Can you please stop making this about trust?

Any company can make changes to their pricing and plans and terms of service at any time, that is not a breach of trust.

The core difference here is that Unity has shown they have intent to do such a thing.

[AGregori]

@""

This is Unity’s problem !

Fire him !

Then we can talk

Yes and no. He’s not really Unity’s main problem. In fact, Unity’s founder is a fan of this guy and persuaded him to become CEO. And JR’s first years (circa 2015-18) were pretty good. He’s a capable leader, and a less talented one might drive Unity into the ground.

[Lemonify]

@karl_jones

Plus subscribers have the option of staying on plus for another year (see pricing info). After which you can then move to 2023 LTS and move to personal edition.
If you don’t want to upgrade then you will need to move to pro in order to remove the splash screen.

But what if I want to remove splash screen before the 2023 LTS comes out and I am not currently a Plus subscriber? Pro plan is really expensive just for splash screen.

[karl_jones]

@Infinite-3D

Except for the $185 monthly that it costs for a Pro subscription if you want to remove the splash screen. It would’ve only been $35 with Plus.

If you upgrade to 2023 LTS you can remove the splash screen on personal edition.

[marteko]

I’m not happy that the splash screen will stay on the old versions, it’s a mistake on Unity’s part! I wonder, why do you keep letting trash games ruin your reputation and pissing off the developers? Is it worth it for a few more bucks? The rest of the new changes look good to me as a solo developer - no charges for old versions and for 2023 LTS and later versions - no charges if under $200,000 per game, after $200,000 buy Pro, after $1,000,000 only pay 2.5% on the excess over $1,000,000 and if a game earns more of $1,000,000 in the last 12 months. If I hit $1,000,000 with my game, I will put Unity logo on my custom splash screen! I promise, hahaha!

[SinDeSiecle]

@LeftyTwoGuns

There is no tool. It’s a self reported metric that the FAQ has already provided reasonable guidelines on calculating and will provide more at a later date. And they’ve explained several times why they chose this fee, because it gives them the revenue they need to expand Unity while also being cheaper than their competition. Basic 3rd grade math confirms this.

Why not stick to revenue share and put tiers to compete? Look carefully: it is not that, it is insistently a runtime fee. I thought why someone does that: you can change the fee anytime you want. Being 20 cents now does not mean it will remain so in the future. Basic not even 3rd grade logic to see this. The remaining question is, can they also update the max cap on this when the time comes?

EDIT: This opens other possibilities. Via runtime fee, the export module of the engine is charged. Tomorrow, they can say, we already charge the export module and you accept it, why not charge addressables module, srp modules, even vs code module… So, it is very clear that this idea should be strongly avoided.

[NeedsLoomis]

@Qriva

This.
To summarize, the ship (Unity) might start to sink horribly and there is no guarantee that Unity 2024.X will keep the same fee as 2023.X, and if we take previous unity moves we can predict that 2024 and onward will be surely more expansive.

Personally I don’t mine evolving contracts with an evolving product…provided:

A) Old versions get important bug fixes. (No holding us hostage)

B) We are clearly informed when updating to major versions that the agreement is different. (No sneaking in terms you hope we wont notice)

C) No where in the agreement does it allow for retroactive changes. (Pure evil)

That last one is obviously the most important to me. Bait and switch rug pulls can cost years of development, on top of being unethical (and often illegal).

[IllTemperedTunas]

I would be interested in a Unity employee answering this question:

Why would anyone choose to use the Unity engine moving forward?

1. You are incapable of improving your tools

2. All the money we give to you poofs into the air, it does not propel the industry forward

3. It is clear you are in dire financial straights and must jump towards predatory, destructive money schemes to manhandle your users.

These terms may be acceptable, but how do we know we’re not the frog in boiling water? The cat’s out of the bag.

You do not communicate, you don’t innovate, you don’t give a damn about your product, you are not grateful for your consumers who give your product value, you’re incapable of balancing a budget, or fostering talent. You have no idea what you’re doing and you are actively trying to destroy everything your customers value.

We assumed all the above for years, but you went ahead, slammed an iron fist on the table and removed all doubt.

I used to lament the decline of Unity, I now celebrate it.

I resent the situation you have put us long term devs who are shackled to your engine, but that’s the entire reason for all of this isn’t it? You’ve exploited the market to benefit from the works of those who came before you, because we’re stuck with you. Because those who came before you created something of value. You do not feel a duty to provide value, you’re simply going to beat money out of others while providing them nothing.

This engine is a f*cking joke, and I CANNOT WAIT for a semi competent alternative.

Used to dream of finding success in your engine, to sending feedback, to a future of an even better engine built between you guys and the user base. Believe it or not, I wanted to send you guys big ol’ chunk of money if I ever found success. I am still grateful for these tools, I couldn’t work on my project without this fantastic engine. It’s a TRAVESTY what you have done to the potential you have sat on all these years.

It’s clear this company doesn’t understand or give a damn about game dev, so why should we give a damn about your money grubbing company?

[Komikom]

I would like to say:

Good job
New terms are more then acceptable, I almost can’t believe that its real

Firing the CEO would be a cherry on top, but I am very happy Unity developer as of now.

//Edit: I hope there is going to be some new splash screen editor. I have no problem displaying Unity logo in my game, but I would like much more control over how its displayed

[marcos]

The fact that runtime fees are remaining an option leaves a bad taste in my mouth and represents a stain on the industry as a whole.

[Jaimi]

@Gamrok

It’s great that you can disable the splash screen for Unity Personal, but this will only be possible with Unity 2023 LTS: https://unity.com/pricing-updates

So developers with ongoing projects on older versions of Unity who were on Unity Plus are in a bind (Unity Pro is too expensive, and porting games to newer versions of Unity is too time-consuming).

Please restore Unity Plus.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to say that it’s not right to pay for a dark theme in software.

They are in a bind in march 2025.

Dark mode has been free for years. Go to “Edit/Preferences”, and change the “Editor Theme” to “Dark”.

[moatdd]

I’m gonna put on my calm and rational hat for this post. If you’re angry and want your pound of flesh, I understand, but I can’t deal with emotional people because it’s going to muddy the waters.

Just to make sure I got this right (because I hate misunderstandings) this is my summary of the new deal:

• If I assume best faith and intentions, Unity wanted to add a royalty to gather more revenue from developers whose revenue exceeded a threshold, but didn’t want this royalty to hit at full-strength as soon as they crossed that threshold.
• All of my further suppositions will be based on this one assumption, so if it’s wrong, all of my following statements in this post can be chucked into flaming disposal.
• That said, this debacle could have been avoided by calling it a/an: runtime fee installation fee easing royalty
• This easing royalty had to be based on some sort of metric of success, which during the initial announcement, was an unreliable and vague “we’ll-figure-it-out-trust-me-bro-ai-will-solve-it” install fee, which has been changed to a self-reported metric based off of downloads from the digital distributor’s service.
• So the theory/intent behind this royalty is so that Unity doesn’t miss out on the big Genshin Impact money from the one-in-a-zillion smash hit game, but it leaves alone pretty much everyone else.
• The royalty has a 2.5% cap, and my god, you really should have announced that there was going to be a cap earlier because when you leave people in the dark and stonewall them they fester like jealous lovers and I don’t blame them at all. Unity totally screwed the pooch when it came to their PR. This will become a case study for other corporations for years to come, only to be repeated by those who don’t study it.
• Personal Plan has been vastly improved since the cap has been doubled from $100K to $200K, and the option of hiding the Unity Splash screen from Plus has been rolled into it.
• Personal Plan isn’t subject to a runtime fee.
• Plus is gone, though its option of hiding the splash screen has been rolled into Personal.
• No game that made less than $1Mil in the last year has to pay this fee.
• That said, there are still subscription fees for things like Pro and various services.

To Unity:

Please bring back your TOS github.
Please KEEP the Editor-version TOS lock-in.

Don’t stonewall, and don’t limit your conversations to just your insiders. The rest of us will simply assume the worst.

I’m mostly just glad this is over. One of my paid side projects in Unity has gone over to Godot, so I still have a bone to pick with Unity for irreversibly making my life harder through their poor judgement because now I have to straddle two engines.

[Infinite-3D]

@karl_jones

If you upgrade to 2023 LTS you can remove the splash screen on personal edition.

That’s not going to be released for many months, but the changes to Plus are happening now.

[angrypenguin]

Thanks for the update, big improvement.

Nobody likes a price hike, vut you do need to be profitable for things to be mutually beneficial, so I can understand the direction.

This solves my big issue, which was the unlimited install fee liability. I see it as a 2.5% royalty now, but as it’s no longer retroactive we can plan future projects accordingly.

Of course, I look forward to the actual terms so that they can be properly evaluated.

Thanks especially to any and all staff pushing for a better solution.

Unity, if anyone resigned in disagreement against thr previous proposal, please offer them their jobs back. You seem to agree that they were right. People who stand up for the right thing are the kind of employees you need. Please look after them!

[karl_jones]

@Infinite-3D

That’s not going to be released for many months, but the changes to Plus are happening now.

You have the 3 options previously discussed if you are currently a plus subscriber. One is to pay for another year of plus, after which 2023 LTS will be available.