Unity finally addressed developers’ biggest questions about its new pricing model
25.09.2023 - 21:33
/ theverge.com
/ Marc Whitten
/ Unity Create
/ New
After Unity announced, then modified, then re-announcened its new Runtime fee program, the video game development community wanted to know how and why this disastrous roll-out happened. In addition to the letter Unity Create president Marc Whitten published on Friday, he also held a live fireside chat on YouTube in which he addressed some of the community’s biggest questions and concerns.
One of the first things Whitten did, both in his letter and during the chat, was offer an apology.
“I just wanna say I’m sorry,” Whitten said in his Q&A with Jason Weimann, a YouTube creator known for his Unity tutorials. “It’s very clear that we did not take enough feedback before we rolled out the program.”
One of the first and most important questions asked had also been circulating throughout social media since Unity’s initial announcement: “why?” Why add onto Unity’s current pricing plan — which was a tiered, subscription-based service — something that quickly became universally reviled and just as quickly walked back.
“It’s very clear that we did not take enough feedback before we rolled out the program.”
“The most fundamental thing that we’re trying to do is [build] a sustainable business for Unity,” Whitten answered. He said the Runtime fee was meant to be a “balanced exchange” between Unity and its users that would incorporate a kind of “shared success.”
Additionally, the new plan now offers developers a choice. They can either pay fees based on “a calculated amount based on the number of new people engaging with your game each month,” or a flat 2.5 percent of all revenue, whichever is lower.
(Neither the letter nor the Q&A addressed what exactly is involved with this “calculated amount,” and The Verge has reached out to Unity for clarification.)
Whitten’s answer touched on another big “why” question developers had: why didn’t Unity simply introduce a revenue share plan in the first place.
“We’re trying to build a model that we think is fair and is a good value exchange that works for games once they find a level of success,” Whitten said.
He explained that the “pay-per-install” plan was a way for Unity to tie the software’s value to the high-performing games that use it and that, in most cases, paying the “calculated amount” would be better for developers than Unity simply taking a flat 2.5 percent off the top.
“We think that in a pretty reasonable number of cases that [the calculated amount is] actually a smaller number, and we think that’s good,” Whitten said.
However, Whitten acknowledged that the company received feedback that implementing such a program would make it difficult for developers to plan their budgets, like in the case of a game receiving viral success. Whitten said that introducing