Is Unity, which announced a fee structure of ``Yen per installation'', planning to switch to a self-reporting system for the number of installations?



The game engine 'Unity' announced on Tuesday, September 12, 2023, the introduction of the 'Unity Runtime Fee,' which will revise its pricing system and add a fee for each number of game installations. However, immediately after the announcement of the revised price structure, many negative comments were received from game developers, and Unity announced that it would review the new price structure. Newly, foreign media outlet Bloomberg has obtained records of Unity's internal meetings, and is reporting that the number of game installs, which is a major factor in determining pricing, may be subject to self-reporting.

Unity Overhauls Controversial Price Hike After Game Developers Revolt - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-18/unity-overhauls-controversial-price-hike-after-game-developers-revolt

The game engine ``Unity'' has gained support from game developers because it can be used for free and has a wide variety of assets, and has gained many users from amateur developers to game development companies. . However, on Tuesday, September 12, 2023, the ``Unity Runtime Fee'' was announced that would impose a fee of ``○ yen per install'' on games that recorded a certain number of installs or revenue, and was criticized by the development community. I decided to receive it. The details of 'Unity Runtime Fee' are summarized in detail in the article below.

Unity introduced a pricing system that ``fees are generated every time a game is installed'' and game developers were furious, and ``Unity Plus'', which costs about 50,000 yen per year, also stopped accepting new applications - GIGAZINE



Unity's fee structure change has caused a huge shock in the game development community, with prominent companies such as Innersloth, the studio behind 'Among Us' and Mega Crit, the developer behind 'Slay the Spire,' criticizing Unity and calling for a boycott. Some voices were raised. Issues surrounding the fee structure reform quickly spread around the world, leading to Unity closing multiple offices after receiving 'credible threats.'

Game developers keep posting angry comments about Unity's suddenly announced ``fee system based on the number of game installations'' - GIGAZINE


by Jillian Northrup

Amid a series of criticisms and boycotts from the game development community, Unity posted on its official X account on Monday, September 18, 2023, ``We apologize for the confusion caused by our Runtime Fee policy. 'We will discuss this with our customers, community, customers, and partners, and review our policies,' he said, declaring that he plans to review the pricing system again.

Unity announces review of ``Unity Runtime Fee'' policy that charges a fee for each installation - GIGAZINE



Bloomberg has obtained records of a pricing system review meeting held within Unity. The meeting records state, ``Fees collected from developers who earn more than $1 million (approximately 148 million yen) will be limited to 4% of the revenue,'' and ``(Unity Runtime Fee will come into effect on January 1, 2024. The number of previous installations is not taken into account.''

Also, on Thursday, September 14, 2023, Unity stated that it would use a ``proprietary model for measuring the number of installs'' in response to the question ``How do you count the number of game installs?'' It was also reported that during a pricing structure review meeting, Unity executive Mark Witten said, ``The number of installs will be based on self-reporting.''




Furthermore, during the meeting, Mr. Witten said that the reason for not making the details of the fee structure review public was ``because we do not want to repeat last week's communication fiasco.'' For this reason, it may still take some time for Unity to announce a price review.

In addition, on the social news site Hacker News, a person claiming to be a former Unity employee said, ``There are frequent political conversations within Unity,'' and ``Even though I got the job on the condition that it would be completely remote, I am stuck in a certain city.'' It reveals internal circumstances such as 'I was requested to do so.'

TLDR: Don't bet on Unity's success. Bet on their collapse. The place has zero in... | Hacker News
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37536588



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