Official Unity plan pricing and packaging updates

Sounds like a joke, but no

 

Imagine your game is free, what now?

 

What a load of bull crap...

• if most of the guys were free users then why charge more to the already paying users?
• If you wanted more money from "successful" studios, why not set a straight royalty of $1 mill+ games like epic? Or is 200k installations your standard of "success"?
• Why are executives selling stock?
• You are too experienced to know this new few scheme is just out of touch.

 

Honestly what shocks me most is that even the Unity guys here seem to be unprepared and simply don't know. As if that came out of the sudden even for them... That can't be true. What did they expect?

 

It's very sad to watch this engine run itself into the ground via horrible corporate decision. Been using Unity for a very long time, going to consider alternatives.

 

No, when you go over that $200k, you have to pay pro + fees.

 

This is a well thought out post on how it might work, my problem is how transparent will it be? If these numbers are behind closed doors between Unity and those stores, then its a lot of trust to give Unity. What if Unity tells me I have x installs, but my store numbers are lower? Thats assuming Unity is going to breakdown install numbers by stores and every other useful metric - which lets face it I'm not sure I have faith that Unity will do.

 

Can you do it after proper DOTS release?
I mean never?
Pls

 

If nothing changes - it looks like the next project will be created in Unreal. Unity's current thresholds are too hard to track and make sure everything is properly calculated. A publisher can spend 1 million dollars on UA and get 1.1 million dollars, but for Unity that means you got 1.1 million dollars, pay your fees... Many users can "pay" through luckypatchers, on Unity you can see millions of dollars in revenue, but the actual revenue is much less. Lots of pirated copies, lots of installs may be from hacked Chinese apps. Awesome Unity, best way to lose your Unity Pro member.

 

Didn't they just clarify that it is NOT retroactive? Or am I mistaken?

 

This isn't just not communicating. This is throwing the food, flipping the table, and assaulting the person on the other side.

This is not just unprofessional, it is unethical.

Every time someone installs we have to pay? So I sell $2M of a game and pull it. But that game continues to be downloaded by those users who already purchased, I am paying a fee every time. That's just greed. It's microtransactions for developers.

 

You folks keep repeating this without any data and calculations to back it up. Many people have provided examples using common metrics from the market and have outlined in detail how this fee would quite literally eat away their entire revenue.

 

Will Unity Personal have a forced splash screen? It's literally the only thing I needed from Plus.
I don't know why you are getting rid of Plus. Making it more complicated? It already IS complicated even with Plus removed. You decided on a complicated system, that's what you get.

So what changes for me or small indies. You get the S***ty splash screen, then you NEED to move to Unity Pro because the 200k tier is ridiculous with 0.20$ per install.

 

…or get bought by Apple…?

 

So basically you are trying to punishing them.

 

They didn't. The revenue counter will start January 2024, however, the install count is written as lifetime installs.

 

Exactly my point, they basically can invoice you whatever the F*** they want, and you will have to prove it. It will be like getting audited every month...I am not going through that.

 

yeah, and this was what I worried most!

 

what time will you guys be walking back this decision?

 

Absolutely.

On the flip side, I can 100% see savvy devs finding a way to block the phone home request that the engine makes to signal an install. None of us would ever do that, right?

 

This, combined with removing the Plus tier making it even more expensive to hide the 'made with Unity' (spyware) tag... what a combination.

 

To be honest being bought by Apple, Meta, or Microsoft or literally whatever, and a change of CEO and board, will be the best thing to ever happen to Unity since they went public. But I'm not betting anything on it.

 

Agreed.

 

The company is counting on the fact that existing projects and released games and all the assets and knowledge are too difficult to replace to consider switching to another engine. And they might be right but this time they are really pushing it.

 

Kidding right? Making Unity an Apple-only ecosystem product will kill it. Apple kills competition or absorb it. They don't democratize at all.

 

Why do you guys want to throw what's left of your reputation into the mud even more?
I already have players on my discord server asking if they will have to be online all the time to play my single-player game and what unity will be tracking.

I said no, because my team and I will be moving our game to unreal now (Again, not for the price, that is fine and fair but because we just can't predict what incredible dumb move you guys will do next)

 

This is utterly unhinged?! It literally impacts almost every single mobile game developer, or any method that requires scale to make money at all. That's not a small subset of users, it's every single mobile developer that offers free to play!

 

Please answer my question about Demo's and WebGL
https://forum.unity.com/threads/unity-plan-pricing-and-packaging-updates.1482750/#post-9289144
https://forum.unity.com/threads/unity-plan-pricing-and-packaging-updates.1482750/#post-9289021

 

As a developer who has been at constant war with pirates and exploiters hiding behind emulators and VPNs, it really cannot. I could generate millions of fake installs with a trivial script that would look like legitimate fresh installs on real Apple devices, with absolutely no way to detect otherwise outside of requiring a credit card transaction. Apple is very aggressive about privacy; iOS emulators operate in a nearly undetectable and untraceable manner, and changing key identifiers to make it look like a totally new device is a single line of code.

Anything Unity might figure out to break this protection and track "real" installs would be instantly banned from the app stores.

 

It was already clear that using Unity Engine was becoming increasingly risky.

With this policy, even maintaining older projects might be difficult. The last project I worked on was successful.. and I (even as the project owner) can't track it's installs, I can't even imagine how to do it, we had millions of installs just from Amazon Prime or GamePass (in which we don't get revenue per install ), we had builds that were distributed DRM free, we have distributed in platforms that do not allow internet access, and had deals where install count wasn't measured or considered.

Now, even if they rollback this super strange decision (looks like a person, with zero knowledge about the market and very little experience, had this crazy idea in a drunk conversation and it became a policy overnight), it shows the risk of starting new projects in Unity.

The policy makes using Unity impractical for most cases, I imagine Unity will still come out with lots of exceptions for specific case scenarios, trying to tape and fill in the holes, or they'll just give a step back. But this event of today is all about the unpredictability of working with Unity towards the future. - A risk that can't be overlooked, choosing an engine is a huge decision in a game making company, you'll invest in learning, employees will be developing their skills around this tool, you projects will be stuck with the engine for years to come... being predictable is not something Unity should have dropped.

 

The biggest problem is not the cost, it's the (very) potential infinite cost through this fee that can easily surpass the revenue a game makes, at any amount over the threshold.

And that will stay true as long as an install can be tracked many times per user and by non-paying users (demos, free copies of the game and pirated games).

As long as this is not fixed, Unity is an expensive liability.

 

The answer to all of Unity's revenue needs around their developers is just so incredibly simple... Why are we making this so complex and easy to manipulate?

Revenue split after at least 200k dollars earned in last year...



Literally anything else...

 

The info comes from the store, not the runtime? This makes it sound like Unity is planning to arrange a deal with Apple and Google so that their respective app stores give Unity precise running totals on the number of installs per game. That would at least prevent getting double-billed for reinstalls on the same device. But are they planning to arrange the same kind of deal with Steam, GOG, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, etc?

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FatlN5uejPc6aALD0uWWrrukMOUlCy2CfQ8iRlvB0eY/edit?usp=sharing

Created a simple calculator for the new pricing for Personal/Plus, Pro and Enterprise. Just make a copy and put in your license, revenue in the last 12 months, current users (or expected as of January 1st 2024) and new users per month and it will tell you whether you have to pay (if at all).

My main concern is similar to others here, what about re-installs? What about piracy? How will "installs" actually be tracked? How are you going to obtain my revenue numbers if I don't go through Unity's systems for IAPs? This was a not so well thought out announcement (not the first time this has happened) which leaves more questions than it answers. Not surprised given that this is pretty much the same as when I still worked for Unity :/

 

@Unity Trying to somehow help you guys ! feel free to add captions

 

As a freelancer using unity plus, this is just the end.

 

I think they really need to clarify how an install is classified here if they want to avoid losing a significant chunk of their developer base. Am I going to be charged for re-installs of my game or pirated copies? If so, I'll be finding another engine to utilize even if I have to abandon my current works. Even if my game was successful to the point of going over the revenue and install thresholds, would I not gradually be losing all of the money made due to re-installs or pirated copies being installed onto existing/non paying users devices?

 

Then what is this trying to say?

 

It seems like the change to require users to be online to start the unity editor is the worst change of this lot (especially when coupled with the removal of Unity Plus, as this change would lead to me immediately upgrading to Unity Plus). How do we get that decision reversed?

Just to be clear: $2K per year just to be able to start the editor when on an airplane or train? Or any of the millions of other places where internet is unavailable.

I could even somewhat accept "you can start the editor off internet, but must connect to the internet within three days or the editor will no longer work until you connect to the internet again" <-- much more humane than "you can't start without internet"

I'm an asset store publisher fully invested in the unity ecosystem (I've got 1650+ assets I've paid for) and this has me looking for an exit. Not the revenue stuff, mind you, but then I'm not a mobile developer.

 

You mean the same way that companies offer you x - days free of some service, but start charging you after, and oh by the way you have to give us your credit card details first, because we now from metrics that x% of people forget to cancel and we get at least a months full subscription cost from it!

So yes what you say it technically correct at the moment, though seems like a loop-hole Unity will want to close, but the 'benefit' you are suggesting is wholly on the dev/publisher remember to monitor for the two metrics and ensuring they upgrade their Unity subscription license in time to avoid hitting those limits.

Thinking about it how long would you need to do this before, if Unity are working on a monthly period, I would imagine the switch of subscription would likely need to be done well before that final month just to be 100% sure you wont suddenly find yourself hit with higher rates/fee/cost.

 

Will the demo version of my game count as installs? @Mike-Geig

 

How do you track installs?

How do you track installs?

 

No, with this they are getting rid of the revenue cap on Personal.

So instead, you pay for installs over $200,000 on Personal, and over $1,000,000 if you're on Pro/Enterprise

 

I think the system needs to be changed, not because no one likes it... Yea heck no I hate it. But simply because starting Jan 24 no company on earth will be able to afford that kind of risk???

The only way I can see this working is this:

Edit: and even then the prices are killing F2P entirely but yea.. I mean let's all go back to Premium apps. Nice

 

I don't think this answers the question. The question wasn't about studios with multiple games (although how 'multiple games' will be distinguished is a valid question in of itself) -- it was about a studio with a game released on multiple platforms.

Also, I just want to say that I'm sorry you're having to be on the front lines for this, Mike. I can't imagine that this was your decision and I'm sure you're having a very stressful day having to be the person who fields people's ire directly.

Hopefully you're able to bring that ire back up the chain, along with all the concrete examples of ways that this idea will backfire that have been shared in this thread, and show whoever is pushing for these changes that they're all terrible choices and have seriously shaken your customer's trust in continuing to use Unity going forward.

 

Is the fee retroactive? Games that are made in Unity Pro and are already released on PC/consoles and made 1 MUSD+ before Jan 1st 2024 and then decide to launch on mobile, will they have to pay 0.20 USD on every install over 1 million installs?

The average premium game on Android platforms make maybe 0.10 USD organically. That's a -0.10 USD loss per install?

What about if you are in Play Pass? @Mike-Geig please confirm what is happening.

 

Don't forget that you can also only start unity editor when connected to the internet... Who does that serve?!

 

Sorry, I have no idea. The blog post explicitly states lifetime installs.