I have a concern that I would like to bring up regarding the Web Plugin…
While I’m happy that I don’t have to distribute the plugin for many obvious reasons, I am concerned about not being able to if I wanted or needed to in the future. Why would I need to?
What if Unity is bought out? There have been numerous Developers, Publishers and everyone in between in the last few years that have been bought, sold, merged, discontinued, etc. Examples include Id, Blizzard, Activision, Maya, XSI, Big Huge Games, Reality Engine, Project Offset, the list goes on, and on… In many of these cases the product is discontinued, support is dropped, or the license is changed in a detrimental way.
What if Unity closes shop due to any number of reasons, such as bankruptcy, litigation, increased competition, or an Act of God?
What if development on the plugin is stopped because development costs outweigh the pay-off? Or perhaps developing for any of the major platforms becomes much more lucrative?
Anyhow, there are a plethora of ‘what if’ type of possibilities.
This isn’t a concern for the Indie or Pro executable versions, because as a licensee I can continue on with my project so long as I desire under the license agreement set out. In my opinion, the tools and tech provided by Unity for the Pro and Indie versions are a quality deal!
However, if one of the above scenarios happens within the next 6 months or 6 years, the web delivery method could potentially become extinct almost instantly.
Are there any considerations or provisions on Unity’s part for this possible scenario? Am I misguided in my thinking? Would a source-code license get around this issue? Is this a concern for anyone else?
These are important questions for me, and I appreciate any feedback on it.
Thanks!
Note: Sorry, this was meant to be in the ‘Support’ section. :\
But its also not needed.
Should UT decide to stop continueing business (which I don’t think as it has grown significantly the past 12 months), then the solution is simple: just offer the webplayer installer on your own page
Which would still violate the license, so you’re betting on that nobody sues you. In the case of bancruptcy, that might be true. In the case of buy-out (especially by a competitor), it might not.
I agree, a simple addition to the license would reassure us. Something like “as long as UT distributes the webplayer, only UT may do so”.
They continue the contract as it is, which also means to fullfill all duties that are part of UTs duty at the moment
They void it, in that case you are not bound to the contractual parts yourself as well.
Especially the EULA clearly points out UT as the other contractor and sole party allowed to distribute it, so a buyout would void that part of the license anyway as it would no longer exist.
Yes, it would void the license, but not the copyright. And that, exactly, is the whole point. Without a license allowing you to do it, redistribution of the plugin is a straightforward copyright violation.
For us, ensuring that on-going distribution of the player in the wake of our demise would be a priority. We too are sensitive to this sort of thing and before any buy-outs or other shenanigans I’m certain we’d do the right thing by our customers. With that in mind I do realize a legal safety blanket is better than my assurances so I’ll note this with the team so we can see what, if anything, might be done in the EULA.
Possibly, but not necessarily. The terms and conditions of our source code agreements vary from deal to deal. Some times folks license it to keep the source in escrow in case this sort of thing happens so in those cases yes, it would help.
It’s been a year and a half and it looks like the license regarding distribution has been changed to (in the EULA with a download of the latest web player):
So the question I have now is… what is the process for becoming a “designated distribution partner” or acquiring “special permission”? Is this something like the process Adobe provides for redistributing the Flash Player installer or the Air Runtime?
