Official Unity plan pricing and packaging updates

An important point to point out here is while the install fee might go up by 10%, as it is a flat fee, if you have a low priced game, or a free game with low per user earnings, the actual fee charged could go up way more than 10% of your revenue, and even more of your net profit!

Again this is why ultimately an install tax is just so bad, it only really works for high priced end of the market and screws over low end.

 

No, this kind of scenario is posted again and again, and it's wrong.

If you go over $200,000 you can upgrade to a Pro licence (~$2,000 per dev) and that raises the thresholds to $1,000,000 / 1,000,000 so you don't pay anything per install until after you earn $1,000,000 per year.

However, if your revenue per user is very low, it is possible you won't earn enough to cover the fees if you have a very high install base (e.g. 10s of millions of installs @ 5c per user).

Unity have not yet officially said what they have in mind to protect those developers who could potentially fall into that edge case.

 

With each response from Unity, I'm more certain that I need to change to Unreal/Godot right now.
HAULT THIS NONSENSE NOW!

 

I don't even care. That 'F***ing idiot' comment last year had me hovering my finger over the button. I decided to suck it up because deep down I still really preferred working with C# and the editor. It's been nothing but small disappointments all year since then. I'm done.

Maybe I'll try out Godot and that Flaxengine link someone posted looks kinda promising. Either way I'm not making the same mistake. Gonna have to diversify my toolbelt.

 

Unity doesn't give a flying F*** about any developers. They are willing to bill you with random bullshit fees. Officially.

 

wasn't Flax engine having legal issues or something?
I think I read or watched something about it but I don't know where.

 

Unreal here i come !

 

According to the calculator spreadsheet that someone created, this scenario would result in $8,160 in fees to Unity assuming 2 developers on Unity Pro for 2 years. That goes up if there are more devs/more years of course.

So Unity gets about 5% depending on the variables.

 

And this does not seem like an uncommon edge case for mobile games. I remember releasing a mobile game in high school that for 6K downloads and earned $6.00 (which felt pretty cool).

but $6.00 / 6000 users = $0.001 per install.

That doesn’t cover the install fee even at the cheapest option. The cheapest install fee is still 5x more expensive than that!!!

 

Too late and Good Luck!

 

Hey man, I’ve used godot extensively because I really wanted it to be the blender of game engines but it’s just not up to par.
You’ll encounter problem after problem. For example, I experimented with importing my game over when I heard this news. I have models with both blend shapes and cloth physics, godot is not capable of processing both of these things at the same time and it’s throwing vertex errors every frame. its also crashing almost every time I try import models over 10k polys (multiple versions). There are 100 little problems with the basic functionlity that you’ll experience unless you’ve got a super simple mobile game.

Have a play with Unreal, its better than Unity in most ways, and they have a decent record of being a respectable company.

 

None of the other alternatives are going to be a simple choice for most Unity devs because we've chosen this engine for well researched reasons,

HOWEVER,

Godot being the only free and open source contender out there is likely the best choice for devs who want to discourage other game engines from going this route. Nothing is stopping Epic from pulling this crap when their monopoly is complete.

 

Most of these scenarios are presented in ways that are compatible with the install fee. My above real world and real experience scenario is not remotely compatible.

In fact, it results in going negative 5x revenue

 

If Unity really wants to milk from the big-developers, why just not charge, say 1% of IAP generated from Apps above a threshold (say, US$200k per year)?

Unity has a reliable way to track IAPs AND IAP is the main source of revenue for big-developers. Also, it can avoid the problem of charging indie games with large install counts but low revenue per user or fraudulent installs.

 

the cruel thing is, that it now will be more expensive to even release a game and make it successful. any game with that logo in front will be considered bad. like it was bad before. but this is honestly terrible. you need to at least pay 2k to have a good start.
adding the way they changed their TOS and all of that. its seriously just a F***ing asshole move from unity, with the worst possible way and the most stupid revenue model for them. im honestly sad about gg for unity. such a waste of my time

 

No, Epic does not have a decent record of being a respectable company. They are moving to monopolize this space, which is illegal in many countries. Their revenue share is more fair than Unity's FOR NOW, but they are not free and open source like Godot and are subject to the whims of their profit motive just like Unity.

 

Awesome thank you! I’ll keep this in mind as we port Blocky Ball (currently on Steam). Fortunately this games physics are not that complex. So your above issues should not be an issue for us.

I’m mostly concerned about platform support and how that will go over with Godot. But I’m still feeling good about it for our use case from what I see

 

I just want to put an addendum here. For me the worst thing to come out of this so far in terms of consequences is the Devolver Digital tweet insinuating they'll be harsher on Unity titles going forward. I mean really. Is Unity going to respond to that? Because that's terrifying for us small time devs looking for publisher support.

 

Awesome thanks! Godot is the one we are most likely going with as of now.

 

How is this even reasonable in the slightest sense? I'm already paying for unity pro, and I'll be paying for per install? after I've been developing a game for 3 years with a unity pro, under the assumption that a per seat license is all I need?

 

Seems like JR is trying to pump up the stock price so he can cash out before it inevitably collapses. Unity has very obviously been mismanaged for several years, and now after ignoring their core market (game developers), to focus on seemingly everything BUT games, you now want to squeeze us to make up for your failed ventures into other markets. Between laying off all of your competent engineers and this absolutely sleazy new pricing model I don't see what reason there is left to have faith in the future of your company or your engine.

JR should be fired, but it's probably already too late for you to fix the damage he's caused.

You can add my studio to the long list that are now going to be retooling to UE for future projects.

 

That makes sense then, you’ll probably find it an absolute joy to use then. When it comes to porting your game, there are 2 conpanies I’m aware of that can handle console ports. I believe one of them was called “pinapple studios”.

 

Yes, looks like what they suggest is just insane.

Essentially can get in massive debt if sales go well.

 

probably Unity analytics shows pirated copies China included

 

I've been using Unity since 2009, back when it was actually inspiring to use and the CEO wouldn't call you a F**king idiot randomly.

We're now looking at Godo and UE. Godo looks really friendly with minimal BS but Unreal has a decent feature set so not sure between the two.

 

i dont even understand why they milk big companys- their money not from air. its hard work of many talented people/ their paid respect to unity with unity pro sub and that it. and now unity try to control their wallet/ for what reason ?

 

Ouch… I just read their tweets. That sucks. Sorry to hear that guys :/

 

Let's not forget that an Unreal Engine license was around $100000 before Unity disrupted the market.
They even tried to compete with a subpar version of Unreal named UDK that nobody liked and finally made Unreal Engine accessible with a subscription fee and then finally free.
Unreal Engine is a super deal now because they were forced to, but it could end quickly any day.

 

I've been in love with how easy it is to write safe multi-threaded code with Unity Job System, I wonder if any of the other engines have that as well?

 

Maybe you think of this? In theory they changed their EULA back then.

 

Ah the good old days when you could message aras_p about a shader issue or engine limitation and he'd reply and help and often even fix the problem and it'd be in the next update.

Now this is the new Unity and this is what aras_p thinks about it: https://twitter.com/aras_p/status/1701808555752296870

 

Awesome thank you! Do you happen to know (or have an estimate) on what a reasonable cost is to expect for ports?

I’m guessing I probably just pay for or subscribe to an SDK? I definitely wouldn’t be comfortable handing over my entire game or granting publishing rights. Otherwise I’d just port it myself as I don’t mind getting dirty in the trenches

 

There are also stride3D. I am not sure it was comparable to gotdot. It don't have webgl as of yet

 

True, respectable in ways that affect me as a developer though. Heaven forbid they pay me to be an epic exclusive game.

Valid about not being open source like Godot though and prone to the same risks. if godot worked for me, id have continued porting over to it like last year.

 

@SpringHeel and feel free to send me a private message if you would rather

 

This is the Unity I know, and it's why I left. I personally would have lost money on my previous games, which met BOTH thresholds.

I've seen this time and time again with Unity, and every time they backstep and show their true plans. This time, they haven't. I'm surprised. I guess they really did become stupid. Or maybe their backstep was changing it from "per install" to "per unique install"? Laughable.


I recommend everyone else get out like I did before you fall for the sunken cost fallacy, because if not, you've just fallen for their trap and it's only going to get worse. Please, do not waste more years of your life gaining experience only to learn that all the big bois have moved on and this has just become an asset flip factory.

There is no way this is the end. It sounds like Unity has saturated the market and now need to bleed who's using it. Slowly the temperature will turn up, because it has to. They need to show growth for their public investors. Making $X isn't enough, it has to be +X% quarter on quarter.

 

https://twitter.com/MegaCrit/status/1702077576209207611

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Professional studios would rather eat the cost of switching engines than dealing with make-believe pricing structures and a company that's shown its willingness to alter deals after the fact.

Unity tried so hard to be taken seriously and almost managed it before spitting on those that fought for its success and condemning itself to remain the engine for shovelware and asset flips.

gg

 

I have no idea Im sorry, when I looked intp it there wasnt much transparency around pricing. Their console exporters are locked down and youd probably have to send them your source. I think they only support godot 3.x too. something to keep in mind

 

I've been putting various F2P scenarios into the calculator, and assuming the calculator is accurate, any game making more than about 3c per user is always going to be earning above the Unity fees. Of course that's not a good benchmark because all other costs need to come from the revenue. I just wanted to point out that only games that have enormous volume and very low per user earnings will be screwed by this. Most people posting their money losing scenarios are ignoring the $1,000,000 threshold available with Pro, which skews the numbers a lot.

This is BAD for F2P games that earn more than $1,000,000 with a low earnings per user (lower than 10c or so). You could be required to pay Unity around 20% of gross revenue. Extreme scenarios could result in fees higher than revenue.

Note: The calculator doesn't seem to take into account the developing market rates, which could potentially reduce the fees quite dramatically for games that have a lot of users in developing countries.

There is also the option of Unity Enterprise, which costs more than Pro, but may work out to be economical for some devs.

 

Awesome! Thanks again! I and my studio (my dad and I lol but “my studio” sounds so much more official) will reach out to them tomorrow and get a feel for what their services entail.

 

They are not even answering other threads no more... maybe they are ashamed. Maybe they know they can't handle all the bugs anymore.... maybe they just know it is the end.

 

What Unity doesn't understand is that the install fee has to go. Have a revenue share! In ANY other scenario the system WILL be abused. And I definitely don't want to sit down with my "business partner" and convince them that my game has been hacked like I have to be held accountable for being stolen.

How will they even know how the game was bought and by what platform? This is bonkers even for the likes of Steam, EGS and itch.

Unity has to come back to its senses. I feel like 5-year olds are running the show right now.

 

They are in crisis mode and probably have several all-hands staff meetings today. I want answers just as much as anyone but its totally reasonable they're busy.

 

Let's be honest, we're all just postponing this moment. Until now

 

On one hand I don't blame them because they have no info to provide. All of it is contradictory and not thought out.

On the other hand, this level of radio silence is gross, this is people's businesses we are talking about. Why was this announced if it hasn't been thought out with the employees on the same page ready to answer questions?

 

For that flat 5% royality, u get a lot better engine with exciting features coming with each version and engine devs that actually use their own software to make games, so they know exactly what are the pain points during the development when they are using the same tool as the other devs that use their engine.

I think its a fair price to pay for a much higher quality ACTUAL GAME ENGINE .

 

We are waiting for you to announce that you are giving up on the fee-per-download nonsense. If you are really going to implement this nonsense, we will start the porting process of our AAA level Online game that we have been working on for 3 years. By keeping the 400 thousand requests we received on Steam waiting, you will be making us a victim. We cannot jeopardize our company and our income with your ridiculous spyware-like tracking systems. I hope you will fix this disastrous situation immediately.

 

Normally when a company announces they'll be making more money, the funny line goes up.

Also...lol

 

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

 

"We are not going to charge a fee for reinstalls." - Unity...
Ummm ok, well, if you are just going to charge for the first install isn't that technically just going back to a revenue share? We still need the overly complicated scheme?