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Developers Announce they will abandon Unity Engine if company doesn't reverse price changes
Elder Legend
Banned
hahahahaha. Get fucked Unity, please go down in flames. Time for all the Indie Unity Devs make the jump/migrate their games to UE5.
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TommyCronin6969
Member
https://x.com/cultofthelamb/status/1701715971663425897?s=20
I messed the link up but add it to the OP.
I messed the link up but add it to the OP.
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SlimeGooGoo
Banned
64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
Thanks for giving all the users to godot you dimwits
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
This is a lot worse than I initially realized.
SlimeGooGoo
Banned
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Last Hearth
Member
Monumentally stupid of them.
Guilty_AI
Member
fixed
64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
Can't wait for more shader stutter and terrible optimization! Thanks Unity for making gaming worse!!!
64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
I mean Godot conceptually is good but it's still behind Unity on many fronts from what I remember
Guilty_AI
Member
Its definitely not behind in monetization practices tho.
And many games made in Unity don't really use its more convenient features anyway.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Got to remember Unity is losing a lot of money for years. They are basically subsidizing all the studios making games where the current licensing fees and extra software tool fees (I had to google it) arent enough. Thats why they are adding this 20 cent fee.
By the sounds of it, it seems like before this new fee a studio can use Unity for free as long as you dont hit a certain threshold of sales. But once you hit a higher tier or add on premium services then you got fees. It looks like whatever revenue they get now isnt enough. The company has been losing $100s of million per year for years.
If this new fee isnt a good idea, what other ideas are there to raise more revenue to offset costs while keeping this service widely available for free or cheap for devs?
By the sounds of it, it seems like before this new fee a studio can use Unity for free as long as you dont hit a certain threshold of sales. But once you hit a higher tier or add on premium services then you got fees. It looks like whatever revenue they get now isnt enough. The company has been losing $100s of million per year for years.
If this new fee isnt a good idea, what other ideas are there to raise more revenue to offset costs while keeping this service widely available for free or cheap for devs?
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
The per unit cost destroying sub deals seems like a poorly conceived policy since devs dont usually get paid on subs per download. They made it sound like it'll charge devs even in cases of piracy which is insane.
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adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
They will reverse this if they don't want to be the biggest clowns ever.
TommyCronin6969
Member
Silksong is using Unity isn't it. No way they're gonna drop that game around the time this goes into effect.
Guilty_AI
Member
Increase the normal fee, different tax politics for f2p and subscription services, there were tons of other possibilities to increase revenue.
The main issue with this install fee is not simply the money but how its completely nonsensical in practical scenarios. The whole thing stinks of out-of-touch executives patting each other's back and powerpoints.
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SlimeGooGoo
Banned
What do you mean? Are they Evil® as well?
Guilty_AI
Member
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Elder Legend
Banned
I hope not. Let them go bankrupt.
Knightime_X
Member
How can they keep track of every offline install? and reinstall?
I don't think it included demos and gamepass\ps+ could have exceptions.
I wonder if it's every PURCHASED game that's not part of ps+\pass.
If it's literally every install relating to the game then LMAO! Someone snorted a line, drank the stank, and smoked the wrong green to think this was remotely a good idea.
I don't think it included demos and gamepass\ps+ could have exceptions.
I wonder if it's every PURCHASED game that's not part of ps+\pass.
If it's literally every install relating to the game then LMAO! Someone snorted a line, drank the stank, and smoked the wrong green to think this was remotely a good idea.
Cert.in.Death
Member
Bit out of the loop, but this is fueled by subscription services, isn’t it?
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Magic Carpet
Gold Member
Possibly. Ive never had a full explanation on how epic gets paid for unreal engine games on Gamepass.
jshackles
Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Their target for this policy was monetizing better on F2P mobile games that usually don't have "unit sales" and have only a small number of players putting large amounts of money into the game. Under the previous license, I believe they were only charged per paying customer, so a lot of these F2P mobile games had a big reach and Unity wasn't getting their fair cut (according to them).
So their new policy says "ok, you can make a F2P mobile game using Unity, but we're gonna charge you $0.20 for every download". The backlash is coming from a) developers who make F2P mobile games who think this is ridiculous and b) people who make traditional PC or console games with Unity that are now being charged per install instead of per sale.
SportsFan581
Member
Didn't know that. Obviously they run a business and have to bring in some money. I'm sure a ton of the games created with it never make the thresholds required, looks like this new method would at least ensure than everyone releasing commercial games will contribute.
supernova8
Banned
Can they not just take a cut of total MTX revenue from those F2P games? I'm not a developer so I'm probably not aware of the full story (please do tell me if so), but I don't see an issue with them wanting to get paid if a developer uses their engine and makes money from it. Seems... fair..?
Just for context (for the uninformed like me), can someone kindly give us a rundown of:
1) what Unity's current business (revenue structure) model
2) what options (engines) developers have if they do follow through with their threat to abandon Unity?
Just for context (for the uninformed like me), can someone kindly give us a rundown of:
1) what Unity's current business (revenue structure) model
2) what options (engines) developers have if they do follow through with their threat to abandon Unity?
AmuroChan
Member
Such a dumb decision, but they'll probably still be fine since they got that phat contract from Apple.
DemonGamerTTT
Member
They will retract on this.
Johnny Concrete
Member
I have an idea: stop chasing Unreal and focus on being a (Indie)game engine.
They bought Weta and just announced new tools for VFX studios to use Unity. Fuck off, not even Unreal get used in regular VFX pipelines (except for the rare cases of Epic sponsored VFX shots, so they can advertise with it).
West Texas CEO
GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief and Nosiest Dildo Archeologist
So, this is a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation for Unity?
Well, damn..
64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
this is like if 3DS max decided to advertise itself to game developers as a top of the industry game engine just because it gets used in movies
Miyazaki’s Slave
Gold Member
1) Current revenue structure is based around license costs (the cost for a studio to provide a Unity seat for each developer) and their Unity Ads platform. You can also access "Free" versions of Unity currently, however you can only use that free version until your company/software passes a set sales number.
2) This depends. Most people will be quick to say Unreal Engine 5, but regardless of being UE5 or not, this is going to be a massive hit to development teams. The amount of time it takes a team to move from one engine to the next can be manageable if you have a small team. This quickly becomes difficult when your team climbs into and beyond the double digits.
In this new deal, they raise the price on some of the licenses they provide (Unity Industry & Unity Plus) and take a revenue cut based off of installs on the entertainment side in the new model. Essentially creating another "publisher tax". A set amount that some platforms like google and steam take from the profits your games create for the developers.
I literally had a call with an rep at Unity 2 weeks ago and they told us about the Unity Industry change and that there was a change coming to the gaming side as well. They were up front about the Unity Industry change, but didn't share the 'deets on the gaming changes. I don't envy those "Partner Relations" folks right now.
Gambit2483
Member
Ahh yes Unity Crisis WATCH 2023...
TransTrender
Gold Member
Wow
Completely out of touch, especially for those Gamepass titles. Just torpedoes whatever revenue model you had before.
What was the previous fee structure for Unity?
Edit:
Answered
Completely out of touch, especially for those Gamepass titles. Just torpedoes whatever revenue model you had before.
What was the previous fee structure for Unity?
Edit:
Answered
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Doomtrain
Gold Member
This sucks. I’ve released indie projects in Unity and I have more in the pipeline, some of which I’ve been working on for years. The studio I work for also uses Unity for a significant number of its games. Royalties, I can understand, but charging by the install is insane and incredibly open to abuse.
Also, to the “fuck Unity, I hope it burns” people: potentially losing years of work, as an indie, is devastating. You’re not sticking it to the man with comments like that. You’re sticking it to indies who are doing this out of genuine passion to make games they love.
Also, to the “fuck Unity, I hope it burns” people: potentially losing years of work, as an indie, is devastating. You’re not sticking it to the man with comments like that. You’re sticking it to indies who are doing this out of genuine passion to make games they love.
supernova8
Banned
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Anchovie123
Member
Imagine some unhinged lunatic with a vendetta against a studio/game decides to setup hundreds of virtual machines to install reinstall a game tens of thousands of times.
Incredibly dumb idea.
Incredibly dumb idea.
Dice
Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
PSA: While this does affect many great games, I would say in particular Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew was made with Unity and the developer is also the publisher and they already announced they are closing down, only giving this one game support. However, if Unity goes through with this, I'm not sure how badly it will hurt them on the way out. They might take the game down. I was thinking of getting it to give them farewell support but a bit later since this year is so packed with games, yet with this Unity annoucement it may be best to help them now, so I just picked it up at GOG.
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Dirk Benedict
Gold Member
They could always port it to another engine, and as stupid as that sounds, it's better than enduring this policy.
I also feel I don't know enough, so, there is that, too.
Johnny Concrete
Member
That would probably cost 10x more than Unity taking its share.They could always port it to another engine, and as stupid as that sounds, it's better than enduring this policy.
I also feel I don't know enough, so, there is that, too.