Unity announced a new fee structure today, and developers are none too happy. “We are introducing a Unity Runtime Fee that is based upon each time a qualifying game is downloaded by an end user,” the company wrote in a blog post announcing the change. “We chose this because each time a game is downloaded, the Unity Runtime is also installed.” The new per-install fees are set to kick in on January 1, 2024.
RIP Unity. First they partnered with Ironsource. Who are the people behind InstallCore it’s a wrapper for bundling software installations. It tricks people into installing enough browser toolbars and other bloat to hurt their PCs. Windows Defender and MalwareBytes blocks it. Now Unity does this shit.
I look forward to the incoming crop of games made with Godot.
if a player deletes and reinstalls a game, that counts for two installs and two charges. Ditto for players installing a single game on two devices.
Wow, I’m without words, I can only imagine the deals to be ended on games in places like Netflix or the Google play pass
A few cents of 0 downloads is $0 lolololololol
Also, I don’t expect a unilateral and very one-sided payment and service contract modification is going to stand up in court.
Seems weird with how friendly Unreal and Godots deals are
You’d think they would be competing with that
WTF. Luckily it isn’t an issue for me right now, but I guess I won’t be using Unity in future like I once thought I might.
I couldn’t find it in the article, but I assume this is only going forward and not somehow retroactive? Lots of amazing indie titles I’ve played run on Unity.
It is just going forward starting Jan 1 I think
If so, at least anyone whose project was completed beforehand can be grandfathered out of the new arrangement.
That really sucks for new projects, though. A few months is not going to be enough time for a lot of projects out there.
AFAIK this applies retroactively.
Unfortunately, I was just coming back to comment this myself, and link this: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/09/unity-attempt-to-clarify-new-install-fees-as-developers-revolt/
Well, nice knowing you unity…
I’m surprised it’s not per-seat or per-user. Not like the dev is getting more money if the user re-installs the game. Also not a fan of it being monthly. I get why you would charge twice if the user installs it twice since you may not be able to track concurrent installs without DRM, but that should only apply if you choose a per-install licence. Per-install also opens you up to malicious users installing/uninstalling to make you pay.
There should be a per-seat/per-user perpetual price if the dev never updates the Unity engine itself. I get charging per-seat/per-user monthly if they devs are pulling in new versions, but that should stop if you cease updating.
Came here after a friend linked me to this: https://twitter.com/stephentotilo/status/1701679721027633280
Alternative title: Unity about to get sued into settlement or bankruptcy due to legal fees by Nintendo, Sony, and a bunch of others over unilaterally announced installation fee.
Next will be subscription service to end userto run unity games
