Moonstruck developers have released a new title,Install Fee Tycoon, poking fun at the mess that Unity has made for itself after announcing that it would begin to charge developers every time a game made in the engine was installed.
22.09.2023 - 18:51 / venturebeat.com / Marc Whitten / Unity Create
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Unity is walking back its new (and highly controversial) Runtime Fee policy. The company planned charge developers for each game download after meeting certain thresholds. This move was widely criticized and prompted a boycott of Unity Ads from top development studios.
After apologizing to developers, Unity announced the policy will only apply to games built on the next version of Unity. This version is due out in 2024 (or later). Games built on currently supported versions of Unity will not be affected.
For games built on the next version of Unity, “the fee is only applicable after a game has crossed two thresholds: $1,000,000 (USD) in gross revenue (trailing 12 months) AND 1,000,000 initial engagements,” Unity said in a blog post. Once games cross these two thresholds, developers will be charged the Runtime Fee based on either monthly initial engagements or 2.5% of a game’s monthly gross revenue — whichever is less.
“Your games that are currently shipped and the projects you are currently working on will not be included — unless you choose to upgrade them to this new version of Unity. We will make sure that you can stay on the terms applicable for the version of Unity editor you are using — as long as you keep using that version,” said Marc Whitten, Unity Create president, in an open letter.
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Additionally, Unity is removing more barriers for its free personal user tier. The service will remain free, and no runtime fees will be charged. Moreover, Unity is also raising the revenue cap from $100,000 to $200,000 and removing the requirement to include a ‘Made with Unity’ splash screen.
Unity’s initial announcement sparked widespread backlash from developers. Unity is widely used for free-to-play games, where a download fee would be particularly burdensome. The abrupt policy change also damaged trust between developers using Unity and the game engine maker.
Further, Whitten also told Axios that runtime fees from games distributed through subscription services like Xbox’s Game Pass would be paid by the distribution platforms themselves. It’s unclear if this policy has changed or how this was received by companies like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.
GamesBeat’s Dean Takahashi
Moonstruck developers have released a new title,Install Fee Tycoon, poking fun at the mess that Unity has made for itself after announcing that it would begin to charge developers every time a game made in the engine was installed.
Unity CEO John Riccitiello has retired — effective immediately, as of Monday — as president, chief executive officer, chairman, and member of the company’s board of directors, according to a news release from the game engine developer. The move comes weeks after the disastrous announcement of Unity’s new “Runtime Fee” pricing model attracted widespread condemnation across the game development community, and necessitated a swift climbdown from the company.
Unity has not been in a lot of indie developer’s good books lately. The controversial new fee caused many to turn their back on the development toolkit and its creator. Following on from this, Unity CEO John Riccitiello has now decided to leave the company.
It was confirmed yesterday (Monday, October 9) that Unity's president, CEO, chairman, and member of the company's board of directors, John Riccitiello, is retiring from his roles, effective immediately. This comes just weeks after the company announced its controversial Runtime Fee for certain users of its game engine — a decision that’s received significant backlash from developers.
This preview of The Bikeriders comes from the film’s European premiere at the 2023 BFI London Film Festival. The film will be released in December.
Last week, Unity rolled out a new look version of its controversial Runtime Fee in the wake of a seismic backlash from developers who felt the original policy represented an egregious act of betrayal for a myriad of reasons.
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Controversy and upheaval around game engine Unity has forced the developer of a WipEout-style racer to cancel its planned Nintendo Switch port.
Next Up: Read Game Developer's interview with Unity Create President Marc Whitten , discussing the road to the changes below and what Unity has learned from the backlash surrounding the original Runtime Fee policy.
It was only a matter of time before Unity offered something in the way of a concession for the controversial install fee it recently unveiled to the horror of game developers. And while the company has offered an unambiguous apology for the way it initially planned to implement the runtime fee, it isn't backpedaling entirely.
The president of Unity Create, Marc Whitten, has published an open letter responding to the backlash over the recent Unity Runtime Fee announcement, and has outlined a number of changes that are going to be made to the policy before it’s enforced in 2024.
Controversy at Unity seems to be the story that never ends at the moment. Though today it appears that the owners of the popular game engine may be about to concede, at least a little, on the Unity Runtime Fee announcement that set the developer world on fire last week.