Official Important updates to the Unity Runtime Fee policy

...acquire some more spyware companies?

Cause that's where the money from fees would go.

Damage is already done.
The only possible solution to all of this is to rollback all changes, and perform major company restructuring.
Which will not happen. Forget it.

 

Very interesting video.

I noted that he's estimating 2-3 months work for a Godot port of his 3D demo.

Makes me feel pretty good about my 1-2 months estimate for my 2D UI-only port.

Will be watching this closely to see what surprises he encounters.

 

It would make sense because I can't do business with them with the current TOS. They should release TOS that specify no retroactive changes apply.
Otherwise, all they've been saying is groundless. They can still decide to charge you for whatever they want tomorrow because the current TOS allow them to do that.

 

fake . all devs i know are still in unity. and dont want to move.

 

No it's not fake. When someone say half the people THEY know have moved, it's not because half the people YOU know don't move.
Don't be rude and don't call them fake. You may not know the same people. Some people are definitely moving, even though they don't want to, they feel forced. How many will move, and when, that is something we can't know.

 

it requires a complete meltdown before anything new can rise from the ashes. that day may come, but before that we will see more sad events. and even if they started a transition like that (which they won't) - it would take years. they just don't have that time anymore.

 

Once the people that use assets are forced to pro and can’t publish with personal cause of the assets rule they will leave, that’s why they got rid of the plus plan - time to junk the car you invested in

 

Why would they be forced to Pro because of assets rule? You are and were forced to Pro if you had 200K+. What does that have to do with assets? Am I missing something?

 

The Unity plans , personal always been 1 asset and with plus it was multiple assets , it only says assets in the pro plan and nothing about assets in the personal plan unless I’m wrong so unless u make ur own asset you will probably have to subscribe to pro unless they changed it which is a revenue loss for them

 

You could always buy and use assets in Personal. Can you give a link/source to the corresponding documents?

 

Capitan Legoman of the Moderation Squad says leaving Unity is generally speaking off topic. I don't have to stick around and subconsciously influence this dude. I don't want that.

But you got some good advice out of me guys. Go and figure out how to install. Go and open project template. In 24 hours from now you are free.

URP pipelines HDR Pipelines
Nobody is paying 200 bucks a month for a pipeline. get real

Laziness is not worth pay sharing.

When you get new project folders go back into old Unity Projects to retrieve assets and look at what a mess their folders are. Full of jargon and rubbish.

It's difficult to justify as there is no usable engine content aside adverts. And unless you're a big name studio who can profit from those ads meaningfully, then its got nothing.its got 230,000 users. 23,000 users are profiting in a way where unity wants more. To put in context if I want adverts in my independent game without using unity I have to go and find advertiser's and build the ad host architecture. So this is why Pokémon Netherealm and the others will take the engine up as a viable option. Otherwise most of these games will stick to Unreal, not that unreal is good but that unreal has some other engine content that they find to be valuable.

 

Looking now it’s been a while but before the plus was gone, u could publish with personal and 1 asset and be ok if a person wanted to use multiple assets they had to subscribe to plus or pro not sure if It’s changed with the new rules if any moderators can help answer that would be great
You can purchase assets from the Asset Store and use the majority of them in both personal and commercial projects, with the exception of "restricted assets". That’s all it really says

 

I'm sure he's not talking about Unity, but somehow this tweet still feels quite applicable to current state of the engine.



Unity as a company is entirely focused on horizontal expansion. Some of the key talent have left the company or made redundant. The roadmaps have not been updated in years and it's mostly been just incremental glacially slow improvements for years now.

 

When the news drop last week I wasn't aware of what was going on. And I was doing what I do on YouTube. And suddenly I see all these developers swamping in. One of them was Legoman hulk icon, And I'm thinking. What did I do? Is there a new account on the forum and you think it's me?

Turns out something did happen last week. And yeah. They wanted me to know. I didn't know wasn't thinking about it. But glad you tried to tell. In future you can just lay a comment saying hey are you using unity under alias to troll us over the collapse of unity.

Just ask me next time. Don't sneak around

 

Do you have any example that proves your point? Almost every major game with unity has a complete rewrite of the rendering system (Rust) or a custom version of DOTS (VRising).

Godot is by far more modular/customizable than unity in almost every way. But to know that you have to try it at least once. The editor itself is a "game" made in godot that is editable just like your game, since it is made of nodes.

You can even choose to script in C++, C#, Rust, Swift...

For example, good job getting this done in Unity: https://x.com/geegaz_/status/1632419279843803138

Is Unity more capable today in the 3d side? Yes, but... Not by that much, really.

And I say that as a unity lover, I wish none of this would have happened and that they would really push the engine forward. But I thank them for pushing me to lose the fear to try other alternatives, I have realized that there are less and less reasons to "love unity" over other options.

 

https://docs.monogame.net/api/Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics.html

SwapChainRenderTarget
A swap chain used for rendering to a secondary GameWindow

Your Unity game is also a game window within a game. And I guess because of this you are not able to test in true full screen.

 

another loss here,
it was probably one of the best looking URP games,
Road To Vostok switched to godot

 

Dang, since Sep 6, Unity has lost around $3.3bln in market cap. The financials YOY look quite impressive, though. I wonder how long will the team stay silent. Many are frustrated and leaving, but some of us, who decided to stay, are quite eager to hear any news around potential updates to the pricing structure. I wonder if there will be any response by the end of the week.

I really hope they return the Plus plan, or make the new plans available from any of the 2023.x versions not EOY with the LTS version. Or just open up the splash screen for all versions so far and until 2023LTS is complete.

 

Why do you expect any more pricing or licensing updates in the short term? We already had an update. This is it. Take it or leave it.

 

I am personally happy with the new pricing, and I think most people are. My read of the of the room is that some Plus users don't want to upgrade to 2023 and these customers would be forced to upgrade to Pro 2022 or downgrade to Personal 2022. I cannot help but think that this must be a small number who in a few years’ time will either upgrade to 2023 or stop making Unity content.

I think everyone, myself included, would like to have a TOS that has additional protections in case Unity changes its business model again.

 

In 2019, during a period of controversy over their Terms of Service, they updated the TOS and hosted it on GitHub. This allowed users to easily track any changes. That TOS version also provided safeguards for existing users, ensuring they could continue to use the current version of the engine under the terms available at the time of download.

However, before announcing their latest business model change, they nuked the TOS repository from GitHub. The explanation being that the GitHub repo didn't get enough views, which is a straight up lie. This means that any new changes to the TOS, if there are any, are not as trustworthy, since they can be revoked at any time.

People aren't mad that Unity's charging more now. It's more about how they went about it and what they're trying to pull in general.

 

i don't think most people are happy, they just don't care. either they don't pay anything now or in the future, or their license is paid by their employer. but those studio owners who pay these seats - they care. and they are not here talking about it. they have things to do.

 

So... Damage limitation, spin and bullshit.

How about some concrete legal commitments to avoid a repeat?

And when are the clowns responsible for this decision going to be held accountable?

 

"WORKSFORME WONTFIX"

 

you mean will they fire themselves? probably not.

 

Question:
Lets assume I publish a game made with Unity. Then I switch to Godot, so technically it has nothing to do with Unity anymore. Nevertheless on the AppStore it's still the same game and the switch to Godot is only an update.
Do I still have to fear that Unity will try to charge me for revenues I made with the Godot version?

 

The numbers are self reported, so no.

 

Why would they?
You report your game sales and initial installment. You don't have to pay a runtime fee if there's no Unity runtime.
Of course, they can contest your numbers and then you have to go to arbitration/trial if you can't agree.

 

Actually, Unity will still use their blackbox data model if you don't self report so who knows what would happen.

 

If you ported the project unity services wouldn't be in it because it would not be integrated in that version.

 

Here is an answer for your hypothetical question.

• If the game is already on the marketplace at the moment, you don't need to pay a percentage fee based on game revenue. You still need to pay for a subscription if your game goes above 100k revenue (Pro version because Plus is not available anymore) This because you need to abide for the rules of the old version. There may be a possibility to not pay if you can prove that removing the Plus option is a break of license from Unity witch voids the agreement. But this require a good lawyer which may cost more than the Pro subscription.
• if you compile the game as new game, or you update your exiting game using 2023LTs, 2024 or future unity versions then we are in your hypothetical scenario so we can move to the next answer

Here we go

is unclear if changing the engine of a game will release you from the unity license.

before the new changes, the previous faq was very clear that any "trick" to conceal a game revenue like for example changing company ownership, or removing the game and republishing the game with a new name to start the install numbers from zero, this will not work.

From a quick look at the current faqs that part is not present anymore but it doesn't mean it will not appear again when the full wall of legal text, the real license shows up.

If unity chose to include "changing engine" as a way to conceal the payment of a fee then they may sue you for this license breach. Is not clear for me who will win in court.

We need to wait to see what will be the "punishment" if the developer reports fake numbers.

The system proposed by unity is an optional voluntary "self-report" which will be verified by unity using their own data or third party data, and if no "self report" data is present they will make their own data.

Now this may be surprising for most of you that did not paid attention. If you think that unity "calculating revenue numbers using a secret formula" is gone then you are wrong. Is still there. They just added the "self report" option, but is voluntary and not the main source.

Here is the relevant faqs text (quote):

How does Unity estimate the Runtime Fee when I have not supplied data?

While we always recommend you supply your own data, in the absence of that, we will use our own data from Unity services that you have agreed to integrate into your project, and readily available external data.

when you will download 2023lts and 2024 you will accept a license and in that license you will agree to let unity collect certain data, for example by agreeing for unity to include analytics in the game. Or if you don't want unity to collect data this way you will agree that unity can use any third party to collect the data. Which can be anyone. For example windows, which could sell information on how many installs of a game is on windows computers. Or a specific "investigation" company that can aggregate publicly available data like active players on steam, reviews, patreon subscribers and other parts like that.

 

Because in the linked video in the first post, Marc Whitten said that they are still collecting feedback from the community. Also, there have been a few engagements by Unity team members within this thread telling us that they are following the feedback.

I am fine with the new plans. However, there is a huge gap of almost a year, and people like me are pressed to pay 4 times for the Pro plan just so we can customise the splash screen. No warning was given for these changes otherwise I would of purchased Plus and covered until the new LTS at the end of next year and move on the new terms. That's why I think there might be further updates to the plans.

 

What would happen is you tell them to eat S*** because your game doesn't use Unity.

 

Is the first time that i listen about Evergine, looks very good but seems more a industrial tool that a game engine.

 

Wow, the most famous Unity youtuber speak after years of silence, his channel now is part of Unity, thanks for sharing, i will be migrate to UE for work reasons but think that Godot is awesome and can will be the more used tool by indies.

 

Those are just standard corpo PR statements, they're trying to put the fire out. They won't change their current course.

They don't care. You are not financially important to them as a company, nor is the Plus plan, which they'll compensate by raising Pro cost soon. Hoping for some multibillion megacorp to meet the little guys halfway is pointless. If you can't or won't pay for Pro, forget about it.

 

Well if they really declare this as a way to conceal the payment, I will publish directly with Godot and make sure to never ever release anything with Unity again.. I really don't want to owe them money for the rest of my life just because I used their software for a first version of my app.. especially if the trust has already been broken anyway.

 

Even after all these years, it's impossible not to read this in that chipper voice. We've only really touched on the pricing and the degrading tools, but when you think about it, the friendly face of Unity has gone to the dumps too. WTF is this company doing these days?

 

Raising value for shareholders, or at least attempting to.

 

on sale today!

 

It's all relative:


I fully expect for the stock to rise once the drama dies down since analysts see it as a net positive when Unity more heavily monetize their userbase.

 

The Unity stocks is near to lost $10 since Sep12 when Unity announce the Runtime Fee, is rare that stock holders wait in silence about this.

 

Don't watch it it will hang at 30 for a long time. The value will change when the memberships are cancelled and the profits have decreased. Won't be today or tomorrow maybe next week or definitely you'll notice by next month. But I personally doubt it will go below 29. Possibility it could go to 24 but I base that on total guesstimation whether or not an impact will happen.
Even if value drops value had dropped from 190 in 2019. 190$ for a single unity technologies stock. And it came all the way down to 30. I saw it in high 20s last year. It jumps when stunts are perform like partnership between apple etc. But even if it drop to low the Devs won't restore unity to a higher value state. Or it will take time
And after that time like people are worried will it just happen again?

 

Don't worry. You're in the 90%

 

Hey, look at that, Epic pulling a Unity: https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1707408260330922054

 

Epic just laid-off 900 employees. I wonder if their are at all influenced by the madness going on at Unity.

 

We'll wait and see. I am not v optimistic either.

Re: Epic Games lay offs... Perfect strategy to get rid of the extra weight and get some cheap Unity staff that left. These are standard in big tech. We saw it a few months ago with other larg tech companies. Devs became too expensive and comfortable... It's an unfortunate fact of the industry.

 

maybe they make room for unity talents coming in...

 

Really? Where? I don't know whose second account is this, but it starts to break down, increasingly incoherent.

Nothing of the sorts. It was always been allowed to buy/use multiple assets with any license level. The only thing is there that there are editor assets which you need to buy per seat (one for everyone on your team who is using Unity), meanwhile the non-editor assets you only need one license ever and you can put it in the game and everyone can access it, but they aren't allowed to copy it for themselves. But it was never tied to license level.

Not sure what he is even talking about. In typical Kojima-fashion he's writing a lot but not saying much. If anyone is overrated in the industry, it's this guy.

Oh, there will be. But not at the end of the week (my guess). They are lying again, it is not a coincidence that they walked back on their 2019 promise not to change ToS retroactively. And despite of their current promise, they will do it again. Especially because they said they desperately need money (hence the F***ed up pricing model in the first occasion), then they walked back on it. But now they will need even more money. And guess where they can get it? They will change prices soon I think across the board, no matter what they say.

No, it's clear, if you change engine you stop distributing the run time. Unless you keep selling the old version, you don't have to report it (when your sales drop below the threshold with the Unity-powered version, obviously).
They can't charge you for a game you're releasing using other engines and not Unity. I mean they can try, but even the most asshole, capitalistic, corporate-slave court will laugh at them.

What the actual F***? You clearly have zero knowledge about the industry.