Does a publisher need a Unity licence as well as the developer?

If I develop a game in Unity, but have it released by a publisher, does the publisher need a Unity licence as well as me?

 

This may be a question for Unity Support, but I THINK they dont need unity as long as they get a final compile. If they will get the code and compile it themselves (for any reason like inclusion of publisher required libraries) then they also need Unity.

Don't take my word for it, though, this is just a guess.

 

the publishers don't need a unity3d license, just an apple license (as long as you export the .ipa and give it to them)- also you need to make the .ipa with their provisioning profile otherwise it is useless

EDIT: re read the question and realized it wasn't iOS specific. o well.
Unless they want to recompile they don't need a license. Also it's important the the final build that is given to the publisher is done with a properly licensed (not pirated) version of unity since you could get sued. Not sure if this applies to the asset store and how stringent the checks are there.

 

The publisher does not require a unity license unless they are compiling.

 

Thanks. It had just occurred to me, and as it is the Easter weekend, it might take some time for Unity to reply, so asked on here. I will ask Unity anyway, even if it is just to put a potential publishers mind at ease.

The thing that got me thinking is me being under the $100K barrier for Pro, but a publisher unlikely to be under. A publisher would probably not want the Unity logo anyway, so it should just be a case of asking for Pro for me as part of the publishing deal.

 

if your game can make 100k I don't think getting pro will be an issue

 

I hope my game can make 100K, but as I am rubbish at marketing, I am looking for a publisher to try and make the 100K, and they probably won't want the logo there until it makes 100K.

 

Just to piggy back on this topic,( feel bad making a whole new thread) if you don't mind,..

I am curious if there are any good threads /resources/ blogs on getting a game/app out there.

example:

I have a game, should I register myself under a company? LLC, if it's just me?

Who handles ads on freemiums? Does Google play throw it in over the top? Do they give me code to insert into my code?

I know its alot to ask,..but I am totally in the dark on that 'side' of things.

thanks

 

Andy, that game would be wild in 3D.

 

Indeed- I would be interested in such a book, especially for marketing iOS games.
regarding adds- check out Prime31 - they have very easy to use plugins for iOS/Android

 

As I see no other Andy mentioned, and I am the original poster with the name Andy, I assume you are talking to me?

Which game would be wild in 3D? ShootStorm (from my signature) is already 3D, but I have done some work on a sequel that will have a more obvious 3D effect. Got to get some other stuff finished first.

 

Question.

I am an indie game developer.
I want to make a small game for a big IT company.
This IT company wants to be my publisher.
They have "only" 5 000 $ budget for this particular project.
This is the money they want to pay me
I have a PLUS license and I would like to develop this game for them.
We want to divide the profit out of this game when it comes out in half.
So, here comes the question - does this IT company needs a license as well?
If so, it destroys all the project
They will refuse my offer and I will lose my job. I hope that's not the case.
Please answer. :-(

 

Hippocoder's answer is the correct answer. Will the company need access to the editor for any reason? If the answer is no then they don't need a license. This is explicitly stated in the license agreement sections for the license tiers with the phrase "if you are a Legal Entity using the Unity Software".

https://unity3d.com/legal/terms-of-service/software

 

Thanks for the answer.
They want to store all the code on their local GitLab repository.

 

Storing it is fine. Just as long as they don't need to open the code in Unity themselves they'll be able to avoid a license.

 

Thanks for the answer! Do you work for Unity?

 

The

Currently, this IT company earns 0 money out of games. They do completely different things - some business staff. But they earn a lot of money out of it. So, If they would like to buy a license to work on this project too, what license do they need to buy? Can they use PRO license?

 

No. I'm just very comfortable reading license agreements.

Unity Pro. Unity uses the term "Total Finances" and defines it as your gross revenue and/or funding for companies, and for individuals it's defined as your client's gross revenue and/or funding.

 

Why not Enterprise licensethen? This IT company earns 5 million $ in a year. But, it doesn't' mean that have money for this kind of project.

 

Lets say this game sold 0 copies and we earned 0 money out of it. Does it mean that this big IT company needs enterprise or pro license in order to sell it or compile it?

 

Enterprise is solely for access to the source code of the engine.

Yes, for compiling it. No, for just selling it.

 

So, summarizing.
I. as indie game dev and 1 person company, can use Unity Plus license.
If they only want to sell this game and profit from it, they don't need a license.
However, if this company wants to make changes in my code, it would need a Pro license.

 

"Unity Enterprise plans are required for businesses with revenue or funding greater than $200K in the last 12 months, and for those who do work with them."


This is what Unity writes... The Unity communication is one big mess.

It says that I need Enterpise plan, because I do work for this company.

 

No. What they wrote was...

Unity Pro or Unity Enterprise. For both tiers everyone is eligible thus everyone has at least those two choices.

 

So, I will need Unity Pro license as well?

 

Yes.

 

So, only 1 license, or two? One for developer (me) and 1 licence for publisher (them) Let's assume they just want to sell this game. And also, do I need PRO license immediately, or can I wait for game publishing?

 

If unsure go to Unity support rather than these public forums.

That said...

Everyone who releases mobile games 'works with' Apple/Google, therefore every mobile developer needs a pro license. Obvioulsy not the case.

If you develop a game separate to this big IT company, and then sell or licence them the game, providing them source and distributables, and that company does not work in Unity or alter the distributables whilst you are involved in the project, then you don't need a pro license (assuming you don't personally meet the pro license thresholds).

If the big company is going to be working on the files in Unity whilst you are also still working on the project, then yes you do need a pro license.

If you are doing this work as part of an existing employment relationship with the big IT company then yes you do need a pro license.

If you are employed by the big IT company, but doing this project separately to your normal employment (particually if there is no other entity like your own LLC invovled) , its getting pretty hazy, and I would contact Unity.

 

I wish there could be some official UNITY confirmation on this. Can someone officially confirm that?

 

There can be, contact Unity support. Although sometimes Unity staff reply here, this is primarily a community forum.

 

The licence is clear.

If you do work for another entity as an individual, you need to upgrade your licence to match their licence. This was done to stop big entities claiming everyone was a freelancer and not paying for licences.

It kind of sucks for people doing small time work with Unity on the side. But thems the rules.

 

Its not really that clear at all. You say 'for' but the terms say 'with'? What does "work with them" mean? If you have a publishing deal and that publishers pays you something up front are you doing work with them? How about if they only promote your game? I'd say yes you are working with them in both cases, but that means you should have Pro, which directly conflicts what @hippocoder for example said above.

If you use a store to publish your games (Steam/Apple/Google) you are working with them too. This would basically mean unless you release and sell your game in your own 'store front', you have to use Pro. Even then you are probably taking payments working with a payment processor.

...

Anything but clear.

 

Do they also need to open the Unity project? That is the differentiator.

If they're just doing marketing and delivering your compiled binary, they don't need a Unity license at all.

If they need to open the Unity project, then you should have matching licenses.

EDIT: Just to provide an actual real life example:

We have a PRO license.

We wanted to hire an Audio guy to do some audio work in our game.

If it would be done directly in Unity, we needed to get him a PRO license as well.

So instead, we decided to use FMOD Studio, so he never had to open Unity. So now he needs no Unity license at all.

Unity's license mixing rules actively discourage people from working together and actively encourage using more and more 3rd party tools (which is useful, since the know-how then transfers once you inevitably abandon Unity).

 

Ok, this is really messed up. No one knows what to do with those licenses.
Multiple voices contradicting each other.
And you still tell me about the "clarity" of Unity licenses.
And Unity stays silent, don't even bother to answer us.

Here is the case:
I want to store files and all the assets on the company's local GitLab repository.
I am a 1 person company. Not an employee, but a contractor.
We make a contract for a period of time to design the game in Unity.
I will be the only developer who design it.
We will split incomes out of this game in half.
This IT company will be my publisher and I will be the developer.

Question:
1. What license do I need? Can I use PLUS license or do I have to buy PRO license?
2. During development time, can I use PLUS license and upgrade it to PRO after I decide to publish it on stores like Steam or Microsoft Store? Or do I need to upgrade right from the beginning? Currently, I don't sell any games or apps made with Unity. This will be my first time.
3. Do this company needs to own a Unity license? I heard multiple voices here. If this IT company (Publisher) just got the binary file to publish it on stores like STEAM or Microsoft Store, and will not compile this code, do they need a license as well?


Thanks for the feedback.

 

That as I understand it and what I wrote in my earlier reply. But its not clearly covered in the FAQ which only mentions "those who work with them". The fact that lots of people on the forum say this, doesn't really imply that it is clear or even right: it may be that we are all wrong.

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EDIT: your example is much simpler, if a company that has 100,000 people has a games team with 5 people they only need 5 licenses. Only the people that use Unity need Unity ... fair enough.

In this case we are talking about a company that earns 200k engaging an entity to do some work on their behalf. If that entity earns less than 200k can they skip the need for a Unity PRO licence?

Note the difference: here we are talking about the entity that IS using Unity. A Unity licence is needed, the question is which licence?

@Kiwasi says its the PRO licence if the entity is an individual, but Unity's terms don't seem to make any mention of this dinstinction (not saying it isn't there somewhere, but I can't see it).

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I also think the wording "works with" is intentially broad on Unity's part. They might be pushing one approach now but this kind of wording leaves them free to make broader interpretations later.

 

If a whole bunch of entities need to open the Unity project and do some work on it, if one entity is required to to use a higher tier of subscription as per the EULA, all entities need to be on the same tier.

So if one of them uses PRO, everyone needs to get PRO.

(which is why Unity's current Open Project, by design breaks their EULA... If I was (even) more negatively predisposed towards Unity, I would say they made the Open Project so they could sue everyone that takes part in it for breaking the EULA, since if one of them requires PRO everyone should have PRO that takes part in that project, at least that's what their EULA says)

 

What is your yearly income? What is your employer's / contractor's yearly income?

You need to upgrade from PLUS to PRO after you or your employer or contractor has a yearly income of over 200k.

The company that hires you does not need a Unity license, but you may need to have a higher tier of sub based on their income, if it's higher than yours.

 

Also, by the way, for anyone reading this thread, regardless of what tier of subscription you get, be prepared of Unity somehow accusing you of breaking the EULA, because their EULA is confusing on purpose.

 

This is completely idiotic.

I am a 1-person company.
Let's say I make a 1800$ 1 year deal to write an app for a company with an income higher than 200 000$.
Now I need to pay 1800$ for a license which completely destroys my deal.
This is really anti-consumer.

 

On the flip-side, we are a small company that uses Pro (mostly because they made us a good offer a few years back), and we wanted to hire an audio guy for a job that cost roughly 1500$.

Either he had to buy a Unity Pro license, which means he would be 300$ in the red, (which he obviously wasn't too happy about), or we would have to provide a license for him, making a 1500$ job cost 3300$ total for us, which we also weren't keen on doing.

Unity's licensing is terrible.

 

This is a completely anti-consumer practice. Unity, by doing so, only destroys the community and its potential growth.

"...making a 1500$ job cost 3300$ total for us, which we also weren't keen on doing". How long was this project? You don't have to buy a 1-year license for a 1-month work, do you?

 

Charge your client for the licence. Once you start the pro licence, you stuck with it for whole year and need pay it.
So be aware of these things.

Or don't sell the code, just the final product.

However, it shouldn't be matter after you sell your code and close the contract at the same time.
Assuming you close it, rather than keep working on it. I.e. fixing bugs.
Your contract should also clearly state, what is planned about the code, once submitted to the client.
Also, your client should know about the licence requirements as well. Ask them too.

 

"Charge your client for the licence. Once you start the pro licence, you stuck with it for whole year and need pay it."

Then they will tell me - for this kind of money we are not interested and I will lose my job.

Can I just use a personal or plus license during the development process and go PRO only at the moment when we deploy this app to STEAM or other digital stores?

 

Yes you do, 1 year is minimum. Project was a couple of months. (15 days of full on work and then 40 more of back and forth and iteration and corrections etc)

 

This is my first ever commercial Unity project. Can I just use a personal or plus license during the development process and go PRO only at the moment when we deploy this app to STEAM or other digital stores?

 

Is anyone else involved? Or are you (*you* could be an entity) the sole developer and publisher?

If it's only you and you (again, *you* could be an entity) make less than 100k a year, you can use Personal to publish, with less than 200k you can use Plus, Pro for more than that.

You don't need to go PRO at all if you have less yearly revenue than that.

 

I am a developer (1 person company) and I am being financed by the publisher.
Publisher's income is more than 200k a year, while mine is less than 200k.
The contract will be 1 year long. Do I need to purchase a PRO license?
If I need to purchase this PRO license, can I purchase it after the development process or do I need to have it right from the start at the moment when both parties sign a contract?

 

If you need to have a PRO license, you need to have it from the start / when you sign a contract. Having released the game or not doesn't matter.

About the first part, you'd better contact Unity's legal department. The EULA says this:

• If you are an individual or a Legal Entity providing services to a third party, your Total Finances is deemed to be your customer or client’s Total Finances, and

Are you providing services for them, or are they providing services for you (like publishing and marketing)? The difference might be subtle and can only be solved by asking Unity's legal department.

 

Everyone needs a license who uses the unity.

 

Unity licensing is only clear cut at the extremes. Five-is sized indie devs who self publish on Steam use personal, plus or pro depending solely on their own company income bracket, while gigantic companies like EA just pay a hoard of cash upfront for a no-fuss source license. Everyone else in between, like freelancers and companies doing work-for-hire or dealing with publishers get stuck in a messy situation and risk an audit.

But as said before, the license is for using the Unity editor. If you never install or open it, you don't need it. The only dilemma in that situation is figuring out which kind of license those who do need to use the editor are required to obtain.