Current Events > Unity plans to start charging devs per install

(+) Yeah! (+)

NoxObscuras posted...

They won't survive if they stick with this. But as has been pointed out in this topic, their CEO is the former greedy CEO of EA games. So...

Will they survive if they ditch it though? Many devs and publishers seem super wary of Unity now.

LightHawKnight posted...

Will they survive if they ditch it though? Many devs and publishers seem super wary of Unity now.

Many devs are leaving because of trust issues even if they didn't meet the minimums to be affected by the fee.

Why would you ever use Unity if they can retroactively amend the terms of your deal with them to demand more money?

a full retraction of this plan isnt good enough, it needs to come with a binding agreement that they will not change the policy on released or in-development games

TheGoldenEel posted...

Why would you ever use Unity if they can retroactively amend the terms of your deal with them to demand more money?

a full retraction of this plan isnt good enough, it needs to come with a binding agreement that they will not change the policy on released or in-development games

It doesn't matter even if they do that. They have shown a clear willingness to embed spyware completely unrelated to the game runtime itself in their binaries. There's no reason to ever trust them again.

Godot stay winning

I remember when Unity3D was first starting out and was mesmerized by their web plugin. A true underdog that became the villain.

I'm still amazed they confirmed that all reinstalls would've counted as new installs, as if that wasn't a massive issue everyone surely assumed couldn't be the case because it was so unbelievable.

It's a safe bet that Unity will continue to alter their pricing for the worst and many devs will continue to use the engine because the tools, assets, documentation, and community are just too valuable to move away from.

Hopefully this debacle kickstarts the many, many alternatives out there (Godot is getting a lot of attention but there's also Open 3D Engine, Stride, good ol' CryEngine, etc.) because it can't just be Unreal.

Board_hunter567 posted...

Hopefully this debacle kickstarts the many, many alternatives out there (Godot is getting a lot of attention but there's also Open 3D Engine, Stride, good ol' CryEngine, etc.) because it can't just be Unreal.

Don't forget source. Literally the only stipulation is you have to release your game on Steam. No other catches or fees.

I look forward to devs who already signed a contract and agree to terms refusing to pay and seeing Unity try and enforce this in court

How are they not getting sued into oblivion?

Looks like Cult of the Lamb is delisting itself and others will likely follow. Unity is trying hard to walk this back.

monumentally stupid

LordFarquad1312 posted...

How are they not getting sued into oblivion?

It takes time to rally the lawyers against a corporation, even when said lawyers are employed by titans like Nintendo, Microsoft, and EA.

Isnt Pokmon go based on Unity? Well.

LordFarquad1312 posted...

How are they not getting sued into oblivion?

they're already backing off just from the backlash

if they want more money they're just going to have to charge more for licensing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9scVNFiaWU

Either that or they knew there would be backlash regardless so make your first announcement so shitty when you actually roll back and go with your real plan it seems a lot better.

Slay the Spire devs: "We have never made a public statement before. That is how badly you fucked up."

https://twitter.com/MegaCrit/status/1702077576209207611?t=4_K09ji3RIt9X_BMFZGSYQ&s=19

SpawnShadow posted...

It takes time to rally the lawyers against a corporation, even when said lawyers are employed by titans like Nintendo, Microsoft, and EA.

Yeah, but I don't understand how they can justify applying it retroactively.
Or screwing anyone currently developing a game in Unity.

EDIT: How they can legally justify it.

Hayame_Zero posted...

Slay the Spire devs: "We have never made a public statement before. That is how badly you fucked up."

https://twitter.com/MegaCrit/status/1702077576209207611?t=4_K09ji3RIt9X_BMFZGSYQ&s=19

Getting on the bad side of StS devs is a good way to make a lot of enemies lmao

https://twitter.com/cultofthelamb/status/1701715971663425897?t=bZ6geziCA3p_YDz6NC4y3A&s=19

Cult of the Lamb developers are gonna delist their game on Jan 1st.

I really hope Unity dies

Even Geoff Keighley straight up told Unity that it was a garbage idea. Absolutely nobody likes them now, lol.

And their attempt at re-assuring people that this won't affect 90% of their userbase is faulty. Every aspiring game developer would love to get popular and make money from the kinds of things they create. How would that fact be re-assuring when there's a possibility you'll hit their threshold and get hit with their stupid new fees? Better to just use a different engine entirely at that point.

Also most people who use Unity are doing it for academic purposes and not wanting to make games. Most indie devs that people know about likely fall in the 10%. So yeah.

Among Us devs also saying it's a bad idea.

https://twitter.com/InnerslothDevs/status/1701731398498013575

Let the market decide. If people dont like the new fee model they are free to use an alternative.

Punished_Blinx posted...

https://twitter.com/cultofthelamb/status/1701715971663425897?t=bZ6geziCA3p_YDz6NC4y3A&s=19

Cult of the Lamb developers are gonna delist their game on Jan 1st.

They have come out to say that the delisting was a joke

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/5/4/AAKiLzAAE1tK.png
https://twitter.com/cultofthelamb/status/1702091821273461176

Pretty dumb joke. There's nothing indicating they weren't serious.

Arguably even kind of shady since this sort of thing would drive up sales, though obviously it pales in comparison to Unity's bullshit.

Backtracking unpopular ideas due to backlash doesnt help. Theyve showed their hand. Like EA did with Star Wars Battlefront 2.

Unfortunately, people have short memories.

punkfanalways posted...

Let the market decide. If people dont like the new fee model they are free to use an alternative.

The problem with suddenly changing the game engine is that it will get delayed and get a higher development cost.
It might be cheaper to just cancel the game.

Xerun posted...

its per new install so this isnt quite accurate.

youd have to either stop selling the game or port it to a different engine

most likely outcome of this is devs start charging more per game to increase their own margin

Just add a clause to the contact requiring Unity to pay quadruple the fees collected back to the developer... or cease providing the engine to the developer. With continued access to the engine as consent by Unity to the changes made.

devilminion posted...

They have come out to say that the delisting was a joke

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/5/4/AAKiLzAAE1tK.png
https://twitter.com/cultofthelamb/status/1702091821273461176

That "joke" was literally false advertising by stating an end date for when a product would be available and urging consumers to buy now.

That's pretty shitty

I don't think it's that deep. Or at least, is FOMO marketing any better if they were actually going to pull the game on 1/24?

It is unfortunate that twitter and the internet in general leave so much room for ambiguity with language, and I guess they could've been more professional.

Damn

K181 posted...

That "joke" was literally false advertising by stating an end date for when a product would be available and urging consumers to buy now.

I actually bought the Alan Wake games because of that FOMO feeling years ago because the devs said it will be delisted due to not wanting to renew the music license or something.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/1/8/AADdfsAAE1uK.jpg

Well unity sucks anyways. I always notice lower performance with unity games. Like unity games from mid 2010s are tough for my pc to run compared to other games around that period with better graphics and less linear levels. I'm sure modern pc can bruteforce them tho

St0rmFury posted...

I actually bought the Alan Wake games because of that FOMO feeling years ago because the devs said it will be delisted due to not wanting to renew the music license or something.

It was actually delisted though. It came back eventually but it did get taken down.

pegusus123456 posted...

Pretty dumb joke. There's nothing indicating they weren't serious.

Arguably even kind of shady since this sort of thing would drive up sales, though obviously it pales in comparison to Unity's bullshit.

I was half tempted to reply with "Put it on sale cowards!" back when they tweeted it.

Foppe posted...

The problem with suddenly changing the game engine is that it will get delayed and get a higher development cost.
It might be cheaper to just cancel the game.

This is true as well. Still. Let the market decide. Apart from the unfounded fears over mass installs whats the main criticism here? Like how much is it per game? I cant imagine its enough to make or break a game.

I do think there should be a statute of limitations on it though.

Foppe posted...

The problem with suddenly changing the game engine is that it will get delayed and get a higher development cost.
It might be cheaper to just cancel the game.

Cancelling a game doesn't recover development costs. Even if you start another game you lost what you put into the cancelled game. The only thing doing that does is make a creative bookkeeping exercise to help make it look like your newer game made more money than it actually did because the developers would still be on the hook for the cancelled game.

K181 posted...

That "joke" was literally false advertising by stating an end date for when a product would be available and urging consumers to buy now.

I wonder if they got contacted by Unity and worked some special deal out

Yeeesh if this goes through its going to wreck indie gaming.

Fuck Unity.

Ok. Gotta wonder whether this was planned or just a brilliant marketing reaction

https://www.humblebundle.com/software/everything-you-need-to-know-about-godot-4-encore-software

Xerun posted...

Ok. Gotta wonder whether this was planned or just a brilliant marketing reaction

https://www.humblebundle.com/software/everything-you-need-to-know-about-godot-4-encore-software

Godot is free by the way you're paying for resource packs & stuff here.

Tyranthraxus posted...

Godot is free by the way you're paying for resource packs & stuff here.

Yes I know. I thought it was genius level marketing or the worlds biggest coincidence that they made this bundle to learn Godot

it really sucks. I had a working prototype with a few bugs but Ive really been unable to muster the desire to work on it.

and I really dont want to spend time trying to learn a new engine.

Feel like every company is ramping the greed into maximum overdrive. Late stage capitalism. :(

Xerun posted...

Ok. Gotta wonder whether this was planned or just a brilliant marketing reaction

https://www.humblebundle.com/software/everything-you-need-to-know-about-godot-4-encore-software

which price point gets the whole pile?

Questionmarktarius posted...

which price point gets the whole pile?

Usually you have to beat the average to get the whole pie but sometimes there's an upper limit on the price. I would just beat the average just to be safe

Edit: the default BTA rn is $25.03

$25 gives you 2 less items but I don't know what they are

hold on, I gotta dig up my humble password.