Official Unity plan pricing and packaging updates

The fact that they didn't revert everything by now is absolutely insane.

 

Capping devs success at 200K can still cause devs to go negative when accounting overhead costs…

+ idk about you, I don’t like the idea of being capped at 200k revenue

 

I disagree and don't share this persons sentiments so he speaks for himself. Any fee structure based on installs is a non-starter. I assume malicious intent and human error in abundance underlined with system and technical limitations that make it impossible to execute even under the best of circumstances with absolute geniuses at the helm.

Flawed system and unacceptable.

 

I don't care if I'm targeted or not, I'm still exposed to random unpredictable bills.

If unity wants a share of free to play, they should have terms and conditions for that specific use case.

 

I wouldn't at all be surprised if a market for hacked versions of the engine were developed. No need for an account tied to the use of the engine? No need to phone home for installs? As soon as your software makes it cheaper, easier, more convenient, and safer to use the pirated version you've lost the game. How does Unity not know that in this day and age?

 

Cue the response blog post or video by Jon Riccitiello tomorrow or the next day:

"Hello Unity users, I'm thankful to talk directly to you today. Many of you have stuck with us through the years and decades and so the last thing I wanted to do, was to alienate our hardcore group of Unity power users. We are only as strong as our community, and you are what makes my job enjoyable, and why I get up every morning.

There has been a series of announcements made recently at Unity without the kind of due process I would like to see, and that's my fault. We sent out information without being clear or concise, ignoring the impact this would have on your businesses, and we know the kind of anxiety that can bring. Especially myself, having worked in the gaming industry and knowing what high stress situations can really be. We know that Unity is the largest development platform of apps and games in today's market, and many businesses that depend on Unity's world class tools couldn't survive without clear knowledge of what they're signing up for. When we broke the news of a new pricing structure on Tuesday, many businesses felt marginalized because of a lack of concise communication. I should have announced the new changes myself, and been clear about that from the beginning.

So it's time to set the record straight, and have complete transparency. Yes, Unity is changing our pricing structure, with one goal only, to put small-time developers first. That's right, for the first time, we are waving all fees for the first $200K that any and every developer makes, that's for free users as well as all our paying customers. This is a first for Unity, and this is very important. There have been rumors that indie developers will need to pay to put beta versions online, paying $.20 per download before they've made their first dollar. That's pure gibberish, and not based on the facts. Frankly, it's I hate to see the hard work our employees dragged through the mud based on baloney like that. Our new revenue system is built around preventing that kind of abuse. So no user, whether they've just downloaded the program, or have been an enterprise user for the last 10 years, will be paying unless they hit that magic number of $200K. And we're very proud of that and can't wait to see what you do with this.

Secondly, you may have noticed that we removed the Unity Plus subscription. We heard from our users loud and clear that these options were confusing and it didn't bring the kind of value you wanted. By raising the minimum revenue requirement to $200K, we wanted to bring extra value to all users to offset any changes this made to your organizations. You can still get all of the great value from Unity Plus in a Unity Pro license, plus many new advancements in generative AI and cloud build enhancements that will take your game creation to a level you've never seen before.

And third, we've had some questions about how we calculate Unity runtime installs and how that factors into what you're charged. This is an important and complex process that I can't go into detail for right now, but what I can say is we can calculate with a high level of accuracy the number of times our runtime is downloaded and attribute it to games down to the user and platform. It's not easy the easiest process to communicate because it uses a very bleeding edge AI that runs on our proprietary servers. Trust me, I wouldn't base a monetary system on a magic 8 ball that we didn't understand with 100% certainty. You are being charged the right amount of money, and I don't usually say this but I would bet my reputation on that. Some of you have said a few not so great things about me in some of the forums, but most of you seem to understand and know that my reputation means a lot in many circles.

We're not changing anything else. Later in the year, we have a few surprises, and more changes are coming, but they are positive changes made to help foster the small time developers, not to alienate them. We'll be releasing a blog post detailing every question we know you have at the moment. We have a team of people monitoring the Unity forums, paying close attention. And we don't just hire interns to monitor the forums, we have high value employees constantly monitoring what you say. Unity is downloaded onto more phones, consoles, and computation devices than any other platform in recent years. We have some pretty great news planned later this year, some modest pricing structure changes, but I can't say anymore about that right now, they're all designed to help both your company and ours. And in separate new, we have an update on a partnership with a very large food chain. I've promised that I won't say anymore about it, but I think you're gonna be lovin' it. Thank you and once again, Unity is what ties us all together. Thanks.... OK, did you you shut it off?"

 

Never mind, I meant the recent so-called partial mobilization.
My point is, that such assurances do not calm anyone down.

 

So do we get to invoice Unity for the new amount of time we will have to dedicate, every single month, to gathering evidence in order to make sure our numbers match theirs and also the time spent haggling over the bill if we dispute their figure? Are they going to be hiring hundreds of new administrative staff to handle this new frontier of customer support or will we all be waiting in some poor bastards inbox by the thousands?

 

its like most people here just want to make games and even accept fair offerings. unity now spits those in the face and backwardingly changes the rules.
you can see they even not respond to their community. its a disgrace

 

my new unity splashscreen

 

Well, I didn't say it's really good then, but it would be a lot better than what they're planning right now.

And you're not really "capped" at 200k as well. That's only the case as long as your profit per install is less than the fee, which can be reduced substantially by switching to Unity Pro or Enterprise. This also increases the "cap" to a million and this new cap only applies if you make less than $0.01 per install.

 

Player, and now never a developer - this is some wild ****.

As a linux user, I often have to install and launch a game multiple games before I'm able to actually play.

As a gamer, it's NORMAL for me to put down a game for a while then come back.

As someone who loves games, I HATE the idea that a game developer has to now strip their games from the world if they don't want surprise bills for it?????? Like... gamers will create emulators for long dead consoles to bring back their beloved games! And that's AS IT SHOULD BE.

Like

Unity, WHAT KIND OF WORM CAN ARE YOU OPENING?!?!

A stinky one, that's what kind.

 

I haven't looked into this yet, but if that is true kind of makes you wonder if that was a big reason for the merge.
If so how long was stuff like that planned.

 

That was brilliant

 

I am tired.

 

How do you see a positive outcome to this situation, excluding fantastical options such as abandoning the new revenue model and firing the CEO ?

 

No, they already have this, they've had VERY thorough analytics for years.

 

im looking at the Unity analytics, they New User stats is 70% higher than what im seeing from google play console as New users

 

Unity numbers are right Googles knows nothing.
Trust me bro.

 

Hmmm, advertising in the middle of an apology? Check. Backpeddling? Check? Spin doctoring? Check. The only thing you are missing is calling us F***ing idiots and then it would seem totally legit!

 

This is feedback from Japanese users.

We believe that this pricing plan system is set up incorrectly. Is there a problem with the traditional revenue model?

In my opinion, this system has a significant impact on developers and individual engineers, extending beyond the framework of what was once a motto of convenience for game engines. Therefore, this plan should be withdrawn immediately.

 

The revenue is based on any income your game generates, sales, IAPs, ads etc.

 

That was half the point of the crap fest yesterday. Throw some distraction out there along with removing Unity Plus. Hopefully the increase in cost gets diluted in the news. If we get rid of Unity runtime fees, we still have the first win.

 

I've been a professional Unity dev and tech director for two companies that have been two of Unity's largest customers for years.

Instead rehashing a number of valid points that others have already made here, I'm just going to say that I will immediately be seeking alternatives to Unity starting now for both myself and my studio. Regardless of whether this pricing model gets rolled back or revised, it is a flagrant breach of trust, an objectively bad business decision, and completely kills my confidence in the future viability of Unity as a game engine.

Best of luck with all this.

 

Charging $0.15 per install for 200,001th to 300,000th download is insane, even for EU/US. For many mini-games, developers can't even earn $0.15 lifetime per install from US/EU/JP. The pricing model that "we charge less for more installs" and "we charge less against Unity Enterprise users than Unity Pro users" just doesn't make sense - this pricing model is killing small developers.
Why is that small developers need to pay 0.15/0.075 per install while big developers pay 0.02 per install? Can Unity explain the rationale behind it?

If Unity wants to milk from big games (e.g. Genshin Impact/Pokemon Go) , just target them instead of milking from the mini-developers.

I have been a Unity Plus user for 7 years, and in case there is no refinement to your new pricing model, I will have no choice but to look for an alternative to Unity.

 

And each of those scenarios can still land you in the negative for high install low margin games. Which with mobile games, there are A LOT of high install low margin games.

No matter which way I roll the dice, I come out to the same conclusion:

Charging developers per install is wrong

 

Jon Riccitiello:

And third, we've had some questions about how we calculate Unity runtime installs and how that factors into what you're charged. This is an important and complex process that I can't go into detail for right now, but what I can say is we can calculate with a high level of accuracy the number of times our runtime is downloaded and attribute it to games down to the user and platform. It's not easy the easiest process to communicate because it uses a very bleeding edge AI that runs on our proprietary servers. Trust me, I wouldn't base a monetary system on a magic 8 ball that we didn't understand with 100% certainty. You are being charged the right amount of money, and I don't usually say this but I would bet my reputation on that. Some of you have said a few not so great things about me in some of the forums, but most of you seem to understand and know that my reputation means a lot in many circles.

INCOME OF DEVELOPERS IS NOT RELATED TO NUMBER OF DOWNLOADS (!!!!). RIP Unity.

 

At this moment, if you are sure you can earn far more 1 million dollars in last 12 months, then you are that poor guy. otherwise you only need to pay 2000 dollars for the pro seat per year. But, there is still a PRIVACY issue need to take in to concern... ...

 

Serious question:

Which engines are your currently considering? We are looking to port our games to Godot since it supports C# and will save us a lot of time posting code. Other alternatives would be great as well though! Thanks!

 

Welome to the Unity Genuine Activation service.

To confirm your legimate purchase of this game, please enter invoice number, product key, full name, date of birth, job title, social security number, photo ID, bank account numbers, social media accounts and passwords below. Well also grab all your hardware ids too.

Please send via unecrypted email, 10 level deep telephone menu, or via online activation so we can charge the developer for this and any subsequent install when you update a driver, connect to a VPN, or upgrade hardware.

 

I haven't read through all the comments, so I don't know if this was mentioned already, but I have to give my thoughts on it.

I saw few devs mentioning that they would be removing their games from stores (Steam), but it seems like they think this would solve the issue of install tax. I think the issue might be even worse.

For example, what happens if we decide to remove our freemium app from Google Play Store. There are already hacked versions of the app in the wild, or just unmodified APKs available on sites like APKMirror which basically automatically detects new version from Google Play Store and offers it for download on their site. If we remove the app from Google Play Store, the user would still be able to download and install the app from all these various APK sources for which we don't have the resources to track them all down and prevent them from distributing the APK.

Would that mean that even if we decide to stop distributing our app, that Unity would still want to collect the Unity tax from all these installs from sources that are not under our control? Just because they would argue that perhaps we were providing the APK to these sites?

And the amount of these installs could only increase when users would have no legit way of downloading the app (since it would no longer be offered on the Google Play Store), so the monthly cost could go even higher.

We would then eventually just need to kill the monetization of the app as well, so that we are not generating any revenue, but then wait for 12 months to fall under the revenue threshold, and in the meantime still pay the Unity tax?

PS: Ever heard of Paid user acquisition and Pay per install? Well, it seem to me that Unity got the idea from IronSource to charge for installs. And now they want to pretend that organic installs don't exist and that every install generates revenue. What a joke.

 

I love the timing of some of these things. It reminds me of Paizo making a fortune off of WotC's own blunder.

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/game-programming-with-c-unreal-packt-books

 

I remember when the old CEO announced that the free version would now have all engine features, except splash screen removal. Did Unity stop making money after that? I doubt. Good times.
Problem is the greed, I would publicly fire whoever is responsible for this disaster to calm down stakeholders, so why is this option so unrealistic?

 

I'm going to give this one a try...
https://flaxengine.com

 

Hello Unity guys,

I just wanted to follow up on this thread seeing as an official statement came out a couple hours ago clarifying your policy. It feels important to reiterate we aren't happy even in light of this new information.

1) Thank you for clarifying (backtracking?) on reinstalls. Either way, it's appreciated. It's still absurd to charge for different devices (PC, laptop, Steamdeck, etc).

2) Thank you for exempting charity deals, locked demos, etc. It's also absurd that you've made it financially stupid to release a demo version you can unlock in-app. There's still no mention of partner programs like Gamepass (I don't think those are streaming games). The fact that distributors are on the hook for those charges doesn't make anyone feel better. They'll find their way to us anyway.

3) You are a black box and you haven't budged on this. Which means piracy and install attacks will always be a trust issue. Literally why would we trust you in this area? Your process isn't transparent and you've pulled your TOS git.

4) You are still screwing games released before this out-of-the-blue change. "We gave you three months," isn't an argument for people who released before you even announced it. They should be exempt period.

5) You do realize it doesn't matter if we are personally unaffected don't you? Making it is the dream. There is a renewed labor movement in the US right now. Why wouldn't we stand with the devs who are?

There is no deal, no peace, until this system becomes self-reporting. Because here's the truth: nobody wants their engine of choice to be a nanny that's peering over our shoulder and counting our money. Nobody likes the vibe of DRM this has.

We get it. Unity needs more. Unity wants to grow. Unity wants to hire. I want that too. But you have broken your trust with your developers. You need to trust first. Not us. Self reporting or this will never end well. I am willing to part with the 20 cents per copy. On my count. On my report.

 

I don't know anything about developing engines, but it could be a benefit to everyone if capable people put off by this move and know how could help develop Godot into a viable alternative, freeing people from a corporate model completely?

Godot looks like it has a good start already, so this could be the push that really gives them something to cry about if Godot enters into the realm of feasibility for professional use

 

source?

 

Good luck to ya, mate! o7

I'll be on the next boat out myself...

 

You've just destroyed an entire portion of the game dev industry. Now, no studios are going to want to develop in Unity. Many people who have spent the past twelve years practicing and improving their skills using the engine just lost their job overnight. People who are looking for work with all this Unity experience under their belt just became unemployable.

This is so unfathomably stupid, and there's absolutely no way this goes into effect without multiple legal challenges. In any case, you've completely destroyed any trust you had with every single developer who has ever used this engine. Unity will never recover from this.

 

Was porting my game with 100s of thousands MAU to Unity. I don't pass 100k installs/month so would have to pay .15$ per install which is insane for mobile f2p. Takes a prohibitive amount of my profits and kills UA, so if my game stops getting organic installs it dies. No thanks. Years of development down the drain. Will have to make my game a third time.
Also had other project on initial stage in Unity, obviously I am moving to another engine. You could extract thousands upon thousands out of me now you're getting 0.
What an excellent idea, let's get the money from mega studios by charging them .01$ per install while we kill medium sized ones with .15$.
No one with a minimal degree of sanity or an IQ above 10 will ever start a project in Unity ever again

 

I wish Ton Roosendaal could buy Unity

 

same boat

 

Because the purpose is for you to get Unity Pro cause even before this you were supposed to at $200K revenue.

 

Ah, Tim...

https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1702088166029623806

Spoiler: Screenshot

 

"We have altered the deal. Pray we do not alter it farther!"

 

Hmmm 'uTax' I like it! Harkens back to the old flop that was uMultiplayer or uGUI! You know, the half-baked, buggy messes that absolutely couldn't be trusted to work correctly.

 

Hahaha! Good one. This was the movie scene that 'just popped in there' for me.

 

I used UE before for pet projects and now look into Godot 4.
If this BS won't be retracted very soon, I'll switch with regrets, but without hesitation.

 

You know what?

I could LITERALLY hear this in my head