Unity engine controversy

[Grim.Reaper]

Here is the revised policy from Unity.  Although probably makes it better, likely burned a lot of bridges with how this all went down.

The new install fee (called a "Runtime Fee") will not apply to games made with the Unity Personal or Plus plans, only the Pro and Enterprise plans.

The free Unity Personal plan was previously restricted to studios that made less than $100K in the past 12 months. That threshold has been increased to $200K.

The Runtime Fee won't apply to games made on the current or older versions of Unity, unless the developer moves them onto the new version releasing next year or future versions.

Games which are subject to the Runtime Fee (they've made $1M in the past 12 months and have been installed more than 1M times) can opt for a 2.5% revenue share instead, and will always be billed the lower amount.

Installs will be self-reported, rather than determined by Unity's "proprietary data model."

[Redwolf]

Yeah, but the important part is that the new terms of service say that future price changes are possible for older games using an older version of the engine.

In other words: if you download the tools today and never upgrade you still don't get today's pricing forever.

That clause is what breaks this thing.

[Grim.Reaper]

Yeah, but the important part is that the new terms of service say that future price changes are possible for older games using an older version of the engine.

In other words: if you download the tools today and never upgrade you still don't get today's pricing forever.

That clause is what breaks this thing.

Guess I don't understand as it states the change in fees will only apply to future versions and wouldn't apply if stayed on current or older.  Of course some day folks are going to need a new version to take advantage of enhancements so it's only a matter of time for people having pro and enterprise plans.  Article also mentioned unreal engine charges 5% while Unity will only be 2.5%

[solops]

Speculating, it sounds to me like this might be part of an exit strategy, milking the cash cow as much as possible before selling or abandoning it, in which case there might be few, if any, updates of meaningful magnitude.

[Sigwolf]

Speculating, it sounds to me like this might be part of an exit strategy, milking the cash cow as much as possible before selling or abandoning it, in which case there might be few, if any, updates of meaningful magnitude.

Intentional or not, they pretty much stuck a fork in it.

[Redwolf]

Where can I read the actual terms statement (after the latest revisions)? The github repository seems to be unfed.

[Grim.Reaper]

And the leader is out....

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231009494331/en/Unity-Announces-Leadership-Transition

[al_infierno]

From what I've read, sounds like he sold off all his Unity stock shortly before the debacle, so sounds like he got a pretty good deal out of the whole thing assuming he's not interested in trying to work for anyone else.

[ArizonaTank]

My retirement part-time job / hobby will be to try my hand at indy game development.

I was starting to prepare myself by learning Unity, for a Unity based world.

Not anymore. Thanks to this licensing mess. I am making the switch to Godot.

Godot is not nearly as polished as Unity. But it can still use C# for scripting; the same as Unity, but Godot's implementation is not as integrated as Unity's. Overall however, Godot is very feature rich.

But the big thing with Godot is that it has a "free and open source license."

Sure Godot has some rough edges, but hopefully by the time I really get swinging (in a few years), it will be a fully formed beast. In fact, I looked at Godot about four years ago, and was not impressed. However, it has grown by leaps and bounds since then. There are even Godot based commercial games starting to show up on Steam; "Dome Keeper" is a great example.

Not that my activities amount to a hill of beans, but I bet I am not the only guy making this decision.

[jamus34]

From what I've read, sounds like he sold off all his Unity stock shortly before the debacle, so sounds like he got a pretty good deal out of the whole thing assuming he's not interested in trying to work for anyone else.

Nice to know insider trading only applies to the little people.