I was wondering why unity doesn’t have some kind of platform similar to the assets store where people can sell games? It seems like Desura and steam greenlight are some of the more popular places but why hasn’t unity done something like this? It could be similar to how google and apple have their stores setup but it could be a store dedicated to games made with unity. As an indie developer I am in the process of finishing another title but hate dealing with finding outside source sites to release my games. I just want something simple and easy to use. Anyone else feel this way?
I think selling games is a pretty different business to selling assets for a game engine.
As a gamer looking for a game why would you go to Unity to look for one? Quite simply I wouldn’t. I probably don’t even know what Unity is.
UT would have to effectively build a whole new brand, and they would be competing with places that can sell Unity games AND other games.
I just can’t see the business case being viable.
With all these website taking potential profit then why not? From a business standpoint games on the itunes store sometimes make millions, why wouldn’t unity want a piece of that? It could grow their business even larger than it already is and help both indies and industry professionals as well to sell their games in a simple way. People who make unity games would direct link people to this site to be able to buy the games which would drive traffic and potential new users for their product as well.
It’s no small task, it’s not really aligned with their core business, and unless they can get some top quality exclusives they’ve got no real pull in the first place.
Also, to be brutally honest, most of the games made in Unity which would be good enough to be distributed by Unity wouldn’t have a problem getting distributed elsewhere anyway.
Not really, Johnny is right, its not their market.
Games on the iTunes story isn’t remotely comprable. It’s the app store, and the only place you can get games for ios device. UT could only sell downloadable PC games, and there are already a thousand places to go for those, UT couldn’t offer new to the game and considerably less. (think Steam). The only thing a UT game store would serve is the development community of mostly hobbyists trying to make a buck of a FPS game they slapped together over the weekend.
If someone is making a game with the intent of making money there are plenty of places to distribute and pretty much all would offer better exposure. UT and related sites are about making games. That is their focus and specialty.
Not only that, but if they were open and let anything be published, the metric ton of crap that would surface wouldn’t help their image as a serious development tool.
Partnerships could get in the way. Microsoft, Apple or Google etc might not like Unity going ahead and creating their own store for Unity games as it takes away from their stores.
By not having a store they remain neutral. I have no idea how much this actually matters as a unity store wouldn’t have a large impact (at least initially) on the big players as it’d be only unity games.
With your logic, unity might as well start to manufacturing sandals.
I was meaning for pc, mac, and linux releases. They would still have their own stores for ios and android apps.
I guess you might want to read my logic again, since you obviously didn’t. They sell asset store items so I doubt it would be hard to make it support game releases. I’m sure it could handle a simple .rar file download. Don’t see why everyone would be against this, it would be a neat addon.
Well while i don’t see much of a business case for a game shop, maybe an in app purchase shop would be nice, could be nice for devs (single API / account / bank transfer for all platforms), so instead of apple on iphone, microsoft on windows store, google on droit etc etc you’d just have unity taking a cut on each and a single api / support channel for them all for your multi platform games?
I would rather Unity put a foot in the door of major distributors then we apply our game for review to Unity and Unity uses those connections to help us get released (maybe be an additional 1 time fee or included with Pro license?). For example a top Unity game shouldn’t have to go through the absurdly stupid process of Steam Greenlight taking months, if not years, to get released on Steam. If Unity could review and “vouch” for Unity games then we’d be able to get released a bit easier on major platforms. Rather not have a Unity store to buy games. That’s just another digital distribution platform, which players really don’t need or want.
Personally I think it would be a good idea to have a Unity game store. Of course it would be for desktop only, perhaps also webplayer. You could’ve said a while ago that Unity is not really in the business of selling game assets but then the asset store arrived. Completed games are just an extension of that. I’d like there to be a professionally organized ecommerce store where you get like a whole page devoted to each game with a webplayer, videos, screen shots, text copy, reviews, maybe even a dedicated forum for each game, etc… it would be a great community builder. I agree that at the moment Unity isn’t branded as a game company as such but they’re a heck of a lot closer to being a game company than an ice cream company. Ok, funny logic. But overall I really like the idea. Unity would get a cut from each sale… something reasonable like 10-20% would be good, it would make discoverability of Unity games much easier, Unity developers would see it as a resource and it would be a good way to rate and review games. Plus we all like Unity as a company, right? A proper store would add a whole extra dimension to the game development process, it’d be like when you’re studying in college and then you hope one day to land a real-world job… the store would be the outlet for the stuff you make with Unity. It seems like a natural fit to me - it gives Unity devs somewhere to go, provides a platform for creating visibility and building communities around the games, and helps to additionally market Unity as a game development/publishing platform.
Again, those places already exist. A UT one would not only be have an uphill battle to get any kind market share, it would be also very limited in scope since it is Unity games only. Gamers aren’t looking for Unity games, they are looking for games in general. Unity has a showcase that is perfect for marketing, as they select the cream of the crop to show of their engine. A store full of games that is populated largely by folks who can’t figure out other methods or lack the quality to put elsewhere does not help UT promote their engine. It would simply reinforce the perception that it isn’t a serious game development platform.
Also, Unity is pretty big on the mobile side of things, this type of thing would seem draw attention away from that sort of thing.
Publishing is very different than developing, a completely different business. A lot of overhead and competition just to help a few people who can’t do that part themselves? 20% really wouldn’t justify the costs for the type of games that would largely populate it, and any quality games are going to be available elsewhere through normal channels that gamers would find.
Film production companies don’t run theaters, and most other types of production are distributed through other dedicated means as well. Game development and distribution are generally separate for reason. It doesn’t make business sense. Though it would be “cool”, “neat” and “easy”, having a store dedicated zombie FPSs and slender games doesn’t help UT either monetarily or image wise.
I’m not really against it… well perhaps in some level; i hope they focus to engine itself and asset store as bringing assets available for developers. Surely they can handle simple .rar download. Its just
You see? That is more like it. Not just a link.
I think its very logical to make easy access to assets needed to create a game with an engine you have created. I dont see that kind of relation to sell a game made by that engine. Completed games are not just an extension of assets. Completed game is the end product created by developer(s), enabled by game engine and assets.
and everything @zombiegorilla said …i was too lazy and slow 
But there’s a lot more to selling software than there is to selling assets.