Selling games without subscription

Questions & Answers
1

Hi!

I’m interested in creating a game with Unity. So far I’ve only created non-commercial/non-public products and I’m willing to take the next step but I have a question regarding the subscription model.

So, my annual gross is $0, therefore I’m eligible to use Unity Personal. Let’s assume the following: I’m developing my game and releasing it. As it’s just a simple game I no longer need to use Unity, my game just works and sells nicely. So nicely that I exceed the $100.000 annual income. Here comes the question: In that mentioned scenario after releasing my game, I don’t need to buy a Unity subscription, because I don’t develop anything with Unity (because the game is finished), right? If and only if I decide to actively develop the game again (or starting to develop a new game), or rather: “using Unity again for a project”, I need to subscribe to Unity Plus/Pro, right?

In short: I only need to have a Unity subscription (fitting my annual income) if I’m actively developing (not selling) a project with Unity?

2

The ultimate question you ask - “if you’re right” - has only 1 answer. No.

The Unity runtime is part of the product, and that is what is licensed. Whether you continue to develop or not isn’t the issue. It is that the game is dependent on the Unity runtime code, and even though you don’t open the Unity editor for the entire time the product sells, once those sales exceed the first $100,000 the license fees become due, and that continues to the over $200,000 level as well.

It is when the product no longer sells beyond the $100,000 in a given year that the fees no longer become due.