Terraria devs pledge ongoing support for Unity alternatives after condemning game engine’s “predatory moves”

20.09.2023 - 18:25 / rockpapershotgun.com

Terraria makers Re-Logic have donated $100,000 to two open-source alternatives to game engine Unity, and vowed to donate to Godot and FNA every month from now on, after slamming Unity’s recent runtime fee plans.

Re-Logic’s statement follows in the wake of Unity’s disastrous proposal for a per-install fee charged to developers once their game passes certain install and revenue thresholds, with widespread criticism aimed at the way Unity slyly altered its Terms of Service to allow for the move, its seemingly loose way of tracking installs - with multiple installs of the same game on the same device counting towards the total regardless - and the potential for bad actors to abuse the system by registering fraudulent installs, which Unity suggested would be dealt with after the fact via its customer support process (which itself came in for plenty of complaints).

Despite Unity’s later apology and promise that “changes” would be made to the pricing structure (without one of those changes being the plan to introduce it at all), various developers have announced their intentions to move away from the game engine following the news.

One developer not directly unaffected by the decision is Re-Logic, which doesn’t use Unity beyond a minor number of elements on the console and mobile versions of Terraria. Regardless, the studio weighed in with their ‘unequivocal condemnation and rejection’ of Unity’s announcement as “the loss of a formerly-leading and user-friendly game engine to the darker forces that negatively impact so much of the gaming industry”.

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“We feel like we cannot sit idly by as these predatory moves are made against studios everywhere,” Re-Logic wrote, criticising the “underhanded way” the changes were rolled out and the “flippant manner” in which Unity attempted to “squeeze” game creators.

“Even if Unity were to recant their policies and statements, the destruction of trust is not so easily repaired.”

To put their money where their mouth is, Re-Logic pledged to donate $100,000 to both Godot and FNA, two open-source game engines. On top of the lump sums, Re-Logic said they would continue to donate $1,000 each month for the foreseeable future, as long as neither engine goes the way of Unity.

“All we ask in return is that they remain good people and keep doing all that they can to make these engines powerful and approachable for developers everywhere.”