Hello all, I posted previously about my asset UnityAGK being rejected from the Asset Store because of a so called Unity Asset Store Policy stating that I am unable to include “Unity” in the name of my asset… all the while there are 21 other Assets that I found on the Asset Store with “Unity” in the name…
I Ranted and Cursed the Asset Store and my Thread was Removed! and you know what… I’m not sorry about it… or regretful because today I get a response from Asset Store Managers pretty much telling me I have no choice but to rename (re-brand) my asset, and they might have mistakenly let a few assets slip through the cracks…
A FEW ASSETS??? DO YOU CALL 21 ASSETS A FEW ASSETS??? that’s far from a few assets… and if they are telling me that these assets slipped through, that means that this “DON’T NAME YOUR ASSET UNITY” Policy has been in effect for some time now…
NOTE: If Unity manages to update there guidelines now after this incident, then guess what I have a screenshot of the Original included below…
I am being treated totally unfairly… I refuse to rename (re-brand) my asset because Unity failed to include this so called “Don’t name your Asset Unity” Policy in the Submission Guidelines, and magically this Policy seems to ONLY apply to me!! while 21 other Assets Supposedly Slipped through the Cracks as Asset Store Managers Say…
I’m Posting this NOT TO RANT, but to show you all HOW I AM BEING TREATED! and HOW YOU MAY GET TREATED SOMEDAY! I want your support on this thread to show Unity, and Asset Store Managers that is is NOT COOL!! This is not how we do business, and this not how we treat Unity Developers!
ORIGINAL ASSET STORE GUIDELINES (No Mention of “Don’t name your Asset Unity”)
AndyLL last I checked I don’t have a Trademark, Logo, or Branding anything which I don’t Own…
You can’t Trademark, or Copyright a Word like “Unity” it’s a matter of how the Word is Used such as in a Logo Design and what the Product is that uses the Word “Unity” in their Brand Name or Product Name.
UnityAGK is one Word… my asset is not called “Unity”… it’s different if I created another Game Engine and tried to Label my Game Engine “Unity”, then that is simply asking for Trouble and Copyright, Trademark infringement because it is a direct competitor, and product if named “Unity” could cause Damage to the Original Unity Engine so that makes more sense.
my asset is bunch of Scripts that depend on Unity Engine to help people make a game… my asset is Not a Game Engine, So I am not infringing on Unity’s Branding, Trandemark, or Logo in anyway…
They have a Section in the Guideline Called “Naming your Asset” it’s pretty obvious that if you don’t want other people, developers naming their Asset “Unity” anything… your should specify this Clearly under this Section.
O wait I guess i’m suppose to just Guess that what Unity meant by Restricted Content is “Don’t include Unity in the name” without them specifying it under Restrictions… O and lets not forget 21 other assets got approved on the Asset Store with no problem…
So it’s pretty safe to think that you would be OK as well… as if there is a Policy in effect that states “Don’t name your asset Unity” then this would apply to all these other assets as well that “so called a few slipped through the cracks” 21 is far from a few… seems this policy only apply to me??? hmmm
Fully support you Kuroato, its not just Unity, other brands do the same thing, Minecraft example: Mine and Craft are full words in English dictionary, Apple is also a full real word. I’m sick of companies treating certain words like they own them. I couldnt submit a application to apple store as one the keywords in the meta data was “craft”… I will buy your kit to support you… Unless they remove all Unity kits with name Unity then its fair.
Yeah its pretty absurd if they have 21 instances where unity is in the title but its not okay when you do it. I bet in a few weeks you will notice that its something like 23 because they only enforce the rules some of the time.
21 out of thousands of assets on the store is actually a very small percentage. Rules will continue to change over time and still will never be perfect.
Kuroato, we talked about this over PMs so I’m not sure why you’re posting about this again. Why can’t you simply rename it to AGK or similar and drop the Unity part? Why is this such a huge deal to you?
If you choose not to change the name and only sell it outside of the Asset Store purely out of principal that you caught a mistake in the guidelines that’s up to you. But unfortunately the only person that will be genuinely affected by this choice is you by the loss of sales of your product. It doesn’t seem worth it.
Thanks for posting this as a warning to others who may submit works. However, I guess I don’t really get the animosity. If you’re angry, wait a little while before you post something like this. It just comes off as ranting, whether you say you’re ranting or not. (It sounds like “I’m not upset, damnit!”)
The bottom line is, you’re a guest asking for permission to use their resources to market and sell your product. If they say no, because they don’t like the color green, whether they warned you or not, then the answer’s no.
If you think you’re safe from trademark claims on your product, sell it elsewhere. However, trademark law is murky and I wouldn’t be so confident that “UnityFOO” won’t be actionable, especially if it’s a product designed to work with/in/for the Unity Technologies game authoring toolkit.
Thanks Max and here is what kills me… Managers just replied telling me, “yes your right the Guidelines should be updated” and that’s it… ???
So basically they say Ops we messed up, Sucks for you and your Asset? No offering any compensation or anything in return for there screw ups that I am effected by… they simply don’t care is what they are saying…
I’m just a little guy trying to get my asset on the store along with everyone else, ooo wait he has Unity in his Kit hmmm there are 21 others and that’s OK for those to get through, but lets Nail this guy! and who cares if he rants on about how unfair it is… we are UNITY we can do what we want…
I love how Indie’s make up most of the fan and user base of Unity but yet we can still be pushed aside after we get them to a #1 status position on the Market! Just amazing how they treat us…
and I say us because if they can pull this on me… surely they will do this to any of you in one way or another…
I guess some of you who get mis-treated just standby and let people push you around…
unfair is unfair period… so basically some of you are saying no one should ever voice their frustration with being mistreated, and just keep quite about it all the time and not inform others about such experiences…
i’d rather be informed, and know what i’m dealing with based on other peoples experiences than go in head first and hit a wall…
i’m sharing my experience with Unity Asset Store simple… take it or leave it… support it or not… i’m sharing for others to know how us indie’s are treated unfairly by the big guys who think they can do what they want after we support them and rave about them and bring them more business… but yet we get pushed aside…
that’s why im sharing this…
yes, i may very well end up changing my game kits name… but still doesn’t mean I shouldnt share this for others to know how we are, can, and will be treated with Unity screws up.
I get that you’re miffed, Kurako, and feel like you’ve wasted a lot of energy, but you can’t argue that Unity are in the wrong.
Terms change, and the bigger a company gets the more important it is for them to protect their trademarks, and distinguish the main product (Unity) from third party plug-ins, extensions and content. This is as much for the protection of end-users as it is for UT - it’s a fairly well established practice, and leans on the importance of ensuring nobody’s product comes across as officially sanctioned or recommended.
That may seem like a thin argument, but no less so than your counter-argument that you’re being singled out (opposed to the 21 previous submissions).
That’s business; sometimes we have to play by someone else’s rules - rename, move on… you’re not helping yourself by kicking up a public tantrum (sorry man, that’s what it comes across as!).
Pix10 your right… I understand this is business… I am sharing my experience simple. I’m well aware of what I may have to do, but others deserve to know what goes on behind the scenes, and I think i’m doing a better job at sharing my experience than the first time with me cursing the Asset Store, so give me some credit for keeping my cool lol!
I don’t feel like i’ve wasted my time or energy… people need to know what goes on when Unity screws up, and how one is treated… I mean really how does any News make it on Tweeter, or any of your News Outlets to begin with? Someone’s gota start ranting about something before it makes headlines lol.
Probably the smart thing to is to change the name because money is money and the asset store is really the only game in town, how are you going to get traffic to your asset without it.
They’re doing it to keep your asset out of searches by folk that are searching for Unity assets, not that it matters too much because in most cases people don’t use search because SEOs have mostly ruined the results, even on Google. It’s also surprising to hear that Apple would reject an app submission based on one using ‘craft’ in the metadata. That’s truly inane unless it was clear that the word ‘craft’ was being used in the metadata because the submitted game was a facsimile to ‘minecraft’.
You and others that attempt to leverage the popularity of a trademark SEO style should realize many reject such products in the ‘electronic product category’ without inspection as the production of hackers out to make a quick buck so Unity is doing you a favor really.
So why not rename your game to ‘IndyAGK’ unless that’s rejected because the Indy 500 or the owners of the Indy Jones copyright have been causing a ruckus.
The Bread Water Adventure Game Kit (BAW-AGK) sounds good to me given the fuss you’re making over such an easily solved problem.
Your right about them enforcing naming rules without declaring them first
but if you think about it, it make no since adding unity in your asset name to begin with. we know its for unity engine since we are at their store
and removing the word will not effect the meaning.
good luck with the sales
