Support NeoGAF

[jshackles]

Unity introducing new fee attached to game installs

Unity's new "Runtime Fee" will kick in after developers cross specific revenue and install thresholds.

www.gamedeveloper.com

Starting in January 2024, the company will begin charging what it's calling a "Unity Runtime Fee" that is based on the number of users installing games built on the widely-used engine.

The Runtime Fee will kick in after developers cross specific revenue and install thresholds that scale with different subscription plans. For those on Unity Personal or Unity Plus licenses, the fee will kick in after a project crosses both $200,000 in revenue over 12 months and 200,000 total installs.

Up to $0.20 per install

 

[Trogdor1123]

Is the idea to reduce all of those garbage games using unity assets?

 

[acm2000]

so can we make a script to constantly install/uninstall/install those garbage asset flips to bankrupt the shody developer?

 

[killatopak]

Can somebody explain this to me why Unity did this and will this benefit developers or consumers?

Cause my first reaction just looking at it is greed.

 

[Bernoulli]

 

[Sephimoth]

Everyone's got their hands out these days.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

Ex-EA CEO strikes again

 

[Dacvak]

It only kicks in after a revenue threshold. Seems fine and fair to me. As long as they’re not collecting for multiple installs on the same machine.

Edit: Actually, I take it back. Why is this based off of installs (and not sales) in the first place?

 

[Krappadizzle]

 

[The Cockatrice]

Finally everyone can stop using Unity and it can sink below ground along with its CEO where they belong.

 

[Wildebeest]

RIP to free games and $1 steam sale games.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

I’d love to know how they will monitor this? Everyone will just flock to another game engine I imagine.

 

[justonething]

 

[Magic Carpet]

BMW is no longer going to be charging to enable the heated seats in the car.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

 

[Guilty_AI]

They might as well just start publicly advocating for Unreal. Also, how do they even monitor this?

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

They might as well just start publicly advocating for Unreal. Also, how do they even monitor this?

Changes to pricing and Unity plans 2023 FAQ | Unity

Introducing a Unity Runtime Fee, and new features for Unity Personal, Unity Pro, Unity Enterprise, and Unity Industry.

unity.com

How is an install defined?
An install is defined as the installation and initialization of a project on an end user’s device.

I wonder if pirated games count

 

[T4keD0wN]

Can somebody explain this to me why Unity did this and will this benefit developers or consumers?

Yes, the CEO of unity is surprise surprise EAs former CEO. Lovely dude who is clearly very healthy for the industry.

 

[Trogdor1123]

The amount of data we share, not so willingly, is appalling

 

[RoboFu]

Can somebody explain this to me why Unity did this and will this benefit developers or consumers?

Cause my first reaction just looking at it is greed.

Greed? Idk they basically let you build and sell a game for free up to $200,000 in profits. While it’s not a saintly gesture .. that’s way better than before unity.

 

[RoadHazard]

Don't they already take a share of the revenue once you cross some threshold, like Epic? What is the point of this new thing?

 

[RoadHazard]

RIP to free games and $1 steam sale games.

My understanding is that this doesn't apply to free games, since you have to cross both the install and revenue thresholds (free games won't have the latter).

 

[Mikado]

Don't they already take a share of the revenue once you cross some threshold, like Epic? What is the point of this new thing?

I suspect Unity is still quite dominant in the mobile market while Unreal is possibly eating their lunch on the Desktop/Console scene.

In the mobile market, Installs vastly outnumbers sales, but it's a way for them* to get some money even from your Free Players, not just your Whales.

(* by them I mean Unity)

 

[Elder Legend]

Can this shit engine and shit company already disappear and go bankrupt? Unreal all the way or bust. Fuck Unity.

 

[Mikado]

My understanding is that this doesn't apply to free games, since you have to cross both the install and revenue thresholds (free games won't have the latter).

Depending how revenue is counted however, "free" games on mobile still make revenue, whether from a small set of users, or from all users in the form of ads. I rather suspect that will count (I know a lot of these Revenue Accounting schemes consider all sources, not just dollars-charged-per-sku)

 

[killatopak]

Can this shit engine and shit company already disappear and go bankrupt? Unreal all the way or bust. Fuck Unity.

I quite like Unity. I dunno if there’s an engine reason for it but I find the best 2D or sprite based games almost universally come from someone making a game in Unity.

 

[Roman Empire]

Unity is about to make bank with all those HoYoverse games!

This is scummy, but that's the way our world has been heading since like forever. Now it is just faster.

 

[Kilau]

When I see the Unity logo I’m like the AVGN seeing LJN.

 

[ultrazilla]

Can this shit engine and shit company already disappear and go bankrupt? Unreal all the way or bust. Fuck Unity.

I used to think that as well but then I played Subnautica and both Ori games. Very good games using Unity. I think the problem is that there's only a handful
of developers who have a really good handle on the engine and can give us great looking and performing games. Of course, you could say that with Unreal engine itself.

So perhaps it simply comes down to the actual developer using the engine?

Subnautica:

Ori and the Blind Forest
Ori and the Will o the Wisps

 

[GymWolf]

 

[Elder Legend]

I used to think that as well but then I played Subnautica and both Ori games. Very good games using Unity. I think the problem is that there's only a handful
of developers who have a really good handle on the engine and can give us great looking and performing games. Of course, you could say that with Unreal engine itself.

So perhaps it simply comes down to the actual developer using the engine?

Subnautica:

Ori and the Blind Forest
Ori and the Will o the Wisps

There are always exceptions to the rules, but for the majority of games I've seen on Unity usually tend to look and play horrible. Unity is good for 2D games, not for 3D really.

 

[Mister Wolf]

I wish Owlcat would stop using this engine. It's a dud.

 

[Wildebeest]

My understanding is that this doesn't apply to free games, since you have to cross both the install and revenue thresholds (free games won't have the latter).

I was thinking about deep sales and giveaways for older games that have made their money.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Depending how revenue is counted however, "free" games on mobile still make revenue, whether from a small set of users, or from all users in the form of ads. I rather suspect that will count (I know a lot of these Revenue Accounting schemes consider all sources, not just dollars-charged-per-sku)

You are only "immune" from this install cost cost on a F2P game IF you have installed unity's ad platform into your title.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

I wish Owlcat would stop using this engine. It's a dud.

Maybe it's already happening?

Owlcat Games - We create cRPGs

We create cRPGs

owlcat.games

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Can somebody explain this to me why Unity did this and will this benefit developers or consumers?

Cause my first reaction just looking at it is greed.

Unity is having financial difficulties.

They also rolled out a new "Unity Industry" model which charges X2 (Double) for the cost of using Unity (with no additional features) to make a "non game" application.

 

[SirKicksalot]

Activision must be seething. COD Mobile is going to print money for Unity.

 

[RoboFu]

Can this shit engine and shit company already disappear and go bankrupt? Unreal all the way or bust. Fuck Unity.

If it wasn't for unity Unreal would never have been free for small game development.

Also A bad performing game isn't really the engines fault as much of the dev releasing a bad performing game. That goes for any engine.

 

[ResilientBanana]

Can this shit engine and shit company already disappear and go bankrupt? Unreal all the way or bust. Fuck Unity.

Unreal is terrible.

 

[IntentionalPun]

It's because of Free 2 Play games y'all.

 

[Skifi28]

Yay, more stutters and crap performance in the near future.

Edit: Then again, if they were using unity it would probably still be crap. Eh, I can't decide what's worse.

 

[Kataploom]

It only kicks in after a revenue threshold. Seems fine and fair to me. As long as they’re not collecting for multiple installs on the same machine.

Edit: Actually, I take it back. Why is this based off of installs (and not sales) in the first place?

I'm in the same boat, if you sell a game for $30 almost $10 is for the store owner... $0.2 more for the engine owner is nothing and I think it's fair.

But this seems more aimed at mobile games for which unity is pretty popular. I don't see this playing well in their favor lol.

There's a threshold but does it mean devs have to pay for already existing installs or for new install after the threshold is surpassed? How will they know exactly?

If the amount must be paid for already existing installs, then it's completely unreasonable. Say a dev is so good at implementing F2P features that 20% of their users spend money the first month, so they get 1.5M installs and reach $200k minimum, that means they already own Unity $300k? How's that?

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

I think this is one of those overreaction-type threads...

This fee in question only kicks in after certain milestones are exceeded. And is also dependent on the membership plan the developer has.

And I really do not see the problem with that, so we want the devs to keep making money but the people that build the tools they use to build their games to not see their fortunes increase in step with that?

 

[Kataploom]

Can this shit engine and shit company already disappear and go bankrupt? Unreal all the way or bust. Fuck Unity.

Nah, it's one of the best engines out there

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Can somebody explain this to me why Unity did this and will this benefit developers or consumers?

Cause my first reaction just looking at it is greed.

SaaS
SaaS
SaaS

SUBSCRIPTION!

 

[Cyberpunkd]

And I really do not see the problem with that, so we want the devs to keep making money but the people that build the tools they use to build their games to not see their fortunes increase in step with that?

No? Vast majority of SaaS tech companies do not tie the amount you pay them to financial results of their clients. In fact just last week I refused a prospect that wanted exactly that.

 

[BlackTron]

Gaming industry crash when?

 

[Elder Legend]

Nah, it's one of the best engines out there

Nah, you are smoking crack sir. Unity has been having financial problems for a while now, maybe if it was good they wouldn't have those issues to begin with. Engine is known for poor optimization and bugs.. It's obvious you've been living under a rock for quite a while.

 

[negator2vc]

Without Unity all those Unreal lovers will wake up and find a very different Unreal (in a very bad way).
All proprietary engines can easily do the same crap as we see here especially without competition.

 

[The Cockatrice]

This meme is becoming a reality.