Official Unity plan pricing and packaging updates

You could make that argument but if that were the case why do it after you've sold just 2,000 shares and not back in May when you're selling nearly 37,000? Another thing too that people don't realize is that he owns a few million shares. A couple thousand is a rounding error.

https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1193857.htm

 

Nah this happens all the time Unity stock is hardly down.

 

There's a difference between 'analytical data' to help improve the game and data specifically intended to fingerprint my device for the purposes of billing.

 

True. I guess it all comes down to how long this has been planned. It's possible this was the plan all along when they initiated the IronSource merger.

 

I've edited the post to point out he owns a few million shares (3.6 million to be precise).

 

Since the announcement, the price has dropped about 7%. This may get worse. Let's see what happens.

 

Somehow I feel vindicated for being right to be suspicious of these death threats, as we didn't have a clearer picture of what was going on

 

But what if it is the opposite set of time? What if they set up a timed sale than prepared and timed the announcement they set forth for the dated sale of stocks.

That is one way to do it and still considered inside trading even if the stock was predetermined to sale before the action causing a mass change in stock value is done.

 

What will happen is Unity will get more revenue and stock price will increase for the next 3-5 years.

 

The statements are contradictory. Fees will be incurred for applications released prior to January 1, 2024. Retroactive charges are not permissible.

Furthermore, it is intrinsically impossible to calculate the accurate number of application installations, thus correct fee computation will not be carried out.

 

Also if you check the link this ain't 2000 shares it is almost a quarter million shares per person.

 

Ah, gotcha. So he's still heavily invested. I think perhaps he'll regret this decision over the next few weeks if the price continues to decline, but time will tell.

 

If you have read gamedev-related news instead of memes, you would know that Xi Jinping banned you from selling your games in his country (the second largest market in the world) - while thousands of Chinese gamedev companies, big and small, are selling their games in your country without any restrictions. Maybe it doesn't affect you personally, and maybe it does.

 

The retroactive part is that if you started developing a game in 2017 and are about to release it, you're being slapped with a new business model days before your release.

 

Analytical data can contain "fingerprinting" of some kind, just as long as it's compliant with privacy laws. Unity for example says it's data is aggregated, which is a way to anonymize personal data. But my point here is Unity is NOT the only app gathering data on you. So if you think avoiding just Unity games makes you safe.... you're naive.

 

Hm....

Unity is offering a Runtime Fee waiver if you switch to LevelPlay as it tries to "kill AppLovin" - Mobilegamer.biz

 

Maybe? How much of Unity's revenue comes from the developers who are leaving? I guess we'll see how bad this gets over the coming weeks.

 

I love ChatGPT because it will encourage all of my worst ideas including this one:

"I'm the CEO of Unity Technologies and I've implemented a new billing model which everyone absolutely hates. They're threatening boycotts and worse! Specific concerns they have include being unable to trust the company not to make further unilateral changes to the contract that might impact them downstream after they've committed to using unity. There is also concerns about a gamer boycott of Unity games due to the proposed monitoring software that will monitor installs. Please develop an influencing campaign that will make them accept these changes. You have a budget for ads and hiring influencers and you are allowed to be creative with language and theoretical scenarios in your messaging but you should avoid lying outright. Here is the change that everyone is mad about: <contents of OP>"

Here is the campaign it suggested to save Unity from those horrible mean game devs:

Influencing Campaign: Unity's New Era
1. Core Message: "Unity's New Era: Empowering Developers, Building for Tomorrow"
2. Communication Pillars:

1. Transparency
2. Unity in Community
3. Game-Changer Benefits
4. Safeguarding Trust

Tactics & Channels:

A. Social Media & Influencer Partnership

1. Unity Developer Spotlight: Partner with top game developers (both indie and big studios) who benefited from Unity. Share their journey, challenges, and how Unity's new features will empower them.
2. Engage Top Gaming Influencers: Let them play, review, and comment on games developed using Unity. Showcase the quality and diversity.
3. Twitter AMAs: Schedule regular AMAs with Unity's leadership team to address concerns and questions.

B. Educational Content & Resources

1. Unity Webinars: Host regular webinars explaining the new changes, benefits, and addressing popular concerns.
2. Blog Series: Diving deep into each added feature - cloud-based storage, DevOps tools, and AI runtime.

C. Ads & Promotions

1. Promotional Offers: Offer discounts or incentives for early adopters of the new pricing model.
2. Ads Campaign: Highlighting Unity’s commitment to developers, success stories, and the new features.

D. Community Engagement

1. Unity Forums: Encourage discussions, provide a platform for developers to share their feedback, and ensure Unity representatives are active in addressing issues.
2. Unity Feedback Fest: A monthly event where Unity gathers feedback and announces improvements based on the feedback received.
3. Unity Developer Grants: Offer grants to innovative projects to showcase the capabilities of Unity and its new features.

Sample Messaging:

1. Transparency:
   
   • "We're here to clarify, not mystify. Let's walk through the new changes together."
   • "Questions on our new model? Dive into our FAQ or join our upcoming webinar."
2. Unity in Community:
   
   • "We grow when you grow. Let's build the future of gaming together!"
   • "Your voice matters. Join our Feedback Fest and help shape Unity's roadmap."
3. Game-Changer Benefits:
   
   • "More than just a game engine. Introducing cloud storage, DevOps tools, and AI at no extra cost."
   • "For the 90%: Our changes don't affect most, but empower all with new tools and resources."
4. Safeguarding Trust:
   
   • "No double charges, no hidden fees. Only pay for genuine, new installs."
   • "Data with dignity: Your privacy, our priority. Unity complies with GDPR and CCPA."

Key Points to Address in all Communication:

1. 90% of Unity's customers won't see any change.
2. The change is targeted at successful games that have scaled in downloads and revenue.
3. Unity is adding significant value by introducing new features at no extra cost.
4. Unity has mechanisms to ensure fair billing - no charges for re-installs, fraudulent installs, or charity-related installs.

Engaging with Concerned Parties:

• Enterprise Worries: Schedule one-on-one discussions with large enterprise clients to address their concerns directly.
• Indie Developers: Host indie-specific webinars and Q&A sessions to ensure their unique challenges are addressed.
• Gamers: Highlight the benefits they'll see in games - better performance, new features, and more.

Conclusion: The campaign focuses on open communication, highlighting the added value, and ensuring the developer community feels heard and supported. By combining influencer endorsements, direct engagement, and clear messaging, Unity can rebuild trust and enthusiasm around its new direction.

 

Developers who leave today will not release games anyway for 3 to 5 years. This industry has long lead times.

 

All this time we thought Unity had acquired IronSource, now we know it was actually the other way around.

 

They merged and share leadership, although the controlling stake remains with Unity. There was no acquisition.

 

I'm confused as to what you are referring to. It's 2,000 shares for John Riccitiello. There are earlier sales but the one that everyone has been harping on is the most recent sale. He received $80,000. Meanwhile his remaining shares add up to $145,443,920.

 

You're assuming things I haven't said.

 

Everyone should make the FTC aware of Unity's bad (and likely illegal) business practices by filing a report at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov

At the very least, Unity is likely engaged in breach of contract by trying to force the creators of previously released products to pay fees which they never agreed to, and it seems that Unity is also engaging in anti-competitive business practices by trying to push developers into a corner with these fees so that those devs will agree to use LevelPlay instead of AppLovin, effectively killing much of AppLovin's customer-base and business.

 

In the past 12 months he's sold millions of shares. This fee change wasn't born 2 days ago. It's been in the works for quite a while.

 

you are clearly wrong, Unigine has always been a good tool for games and/or other media, the problem is that unigine is not that popular as a game engine even when they are very popular in other aspects, yes not mobile but that is not exactly a problem (maybe for you) "It's intended for engineering and simulation apps" nop, it has pretty amazing tools for that, like unity and unity is not considered "intended for engineering and simulation apps"

Games:

• Syndicates of Arkon (MMORPG, 2010)
• Petshop (Quest, 2011)
• Oil Rush (RTS, 2012)
• Demolicious (Action, 2012)
• Cradle (Adventure, 2015)
• Tryst (RTS, 2015)
• RF-X (Flight Simulator, 2016)
• Sumoman (Action/Puzzle, 2017)
• Dual Universe (MMORPG, 2021)

Other links you should check
https://unigine.com/products/community/made-with-unigine

 

Uningine is pretty cool.

The main reason I will reluctantly stick with Unity is because I can publish a game to WebGL and VR in the same engine, it just has unmatched device support.

 

exactly, in terms of tech, unigine is way ahead

 

It is per game, so you could theoretically have 10 games all earning $199,999 each and never reach the lowest threshold to make per-install payments.

 

Ah I see where the confusion is. In my post I was linking to other Unity Board of Directors and higher ups that people have not previously pointed out. Was pointing out it ain't just the CEO, president, and one board member which really raises some questions, because the CEO actually seemed to have sold almost the lowest amount of the group.

 

I would put money on them banking on the binding arbitration clause to be enforceable to allow them to shut down any suits before they even begin, and further banking on the arbitrators to have their backs.

Especially after the Supreme Court cases reaffirming the enforceability of binding arbitration clauses over the past few years. Unity Lawyers likely already have a boilerplate motion to compel arbitration at the ready.

 

No, it's not just that. Any existing game, released at any time in the past will start paying these fees from Jan 2024 if they meet the threshold. That's what that FAQ answer explicitly says.

So a game (like ours) that has over $1M revenue in the past 12 months and has already had over 1M installs will be charged for every new install from Jan 1 2024 onward despite the fact that we released it years ago.

 

Also, you should check this
Unigine Technical Specs:

https://unigine.com/products/community/technical-specs#tabs-community

 

Apparently the ToS-sneezy changes probably aren't that legally problematic (just unethical, obviously).
(I am not a lawyer, and he is not your lawyer, so no legal advice, blablabla)

 

Yes you are the target welcome to unlimited liability.

 

So the death threat, was actually Unity employee who made "threats" to his boss (I suppose its that guy?) on his social media...the SF police got involved...

Then 3 locations of Unity employees were sent home...

Am I reading this right???

I sort of imagined a drunk, pissed off dev knocking on Unity building with a baseball bat type of thing...

 

CALm DowN ppL. ItS NoT ThAt oF A biG dEal. JuST eMploYeEs ReSigNing aNd CusTomErS LeaViNg.
THe ComPanY WiLL bE fiNe wiTh ThiS grEaT cEo. kEep InvEsTinG yOur tIMe iN uNitY

 

Unity, this is not a good look. If you need to increase prices then just do so, or base it off revenue. Charging per install is absolutely F***ing insane. There is no way to verify accurate numbers while excluding illegally accessed copies, and you won't even give a detailed explanation on how you are supposedly going to do that. All you're saying is a bunch of corporate nonsense and expecting us to trust your figures.

On top of this, you're applying this retroactively to games that have already been released or are currently in development, which are under different licenses. This is incredibly scummy.. the team I'm part of has been working on our game for 3 years now. We're essentially stuck now and will be forced to fork up extra money WE DID NOT AGREE TO and cannot avoid lest we port over to an entirely different game engine. You have completely lost the trust of your userbase, and I don't see how you will get it back. You're telling us you're willing to change the rules at any point in time even if games were released under different licenses.

1. Walk back these changes
2. Pricing model changes should not be retroactive, they should only apply to future Unity Engine versions.
3. Get a new CEO. John Riccitiello is the worst thing that has happened to Unity.

I know myself and many others are planning on moving to another game engine as soon as possible. This is unacceptable.

 

I was assuming you think Unity is unique in some way here because I don't see any other logical reason you'd defend not installing a Unity game. But if that's not the case then I apologize and now have no idea what you're driving it.

 

Just curious, have you worked with this Engine? How does it compare to Unity? I am particularly interested in its ability to make 3d high fidelity games. How is its open world handling?

Also, how does it compare to Unreal?

 

this whole thing is stupid and that from a share holder point of view.

at most if they really wanted to do that they should have caped it to something like no more than 2% of the month revenue or the number of install if it under 2%.

that gonna kill a bunch of F2P with some microtransaction. what happen when a F2P game has 2M install but only made 300k$ they will own Unity around 66% of their revenue...

 

That's only true for F2P models.

For retail games, you are basically cost-free until you've moved 1,000,000 copies, so assuming a game that costs a few dollars, you're going to be earning several millions in revenue with Unity before you pay more than a licence fee per dev.

With a successful game you will end up paying far less with Unity than with Unreal. There are some scenarios where you will pay more with Unity.

 

the problem i can see with flax is the poor performance, go ahead and try the "tech-demo 2022" the performance is kind of poor for a demo that looks "ok"

 

You know this is simply not true. Revenue is not directly proportional to installs. A game can have tight margins but large install numbers. This is exacerbated by the fact you guys are planning on charging for multiple installs. Unity simply has no incentive to address this issue (and the issue posed by pirated copies and malicious users that simply want to run scripts to harm developers). Developers get charged for pirated copies being installed? More money in Unity's pocket at the detriment of the developer. For once can we get an answer that isn't a load of corporate bullshit? We, the developers, need to know HOW you are going to guarantee we do not end up footing the bill for illegally obtained copies.. not an empty promise that you'll figure it out.

 

OMH that looks like they are the kind of people who just want more and more money no matter what

 

Fun fact: Unigine used to support platforms beyond Windows and Linux. Clearly they don't now.

• Cradle - released for Windows and Linux in 2015
• Oil Rush - released for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X in 2012; released for iOS in 2013
• Syndicates of Arkon - released for Windows in 2010
• Tryst - released for Windows in 2012
• Petshop - released for Windows and Mac in 2011
• Sumoman - released for Windows and Linux in 2017
• Demolicious - released for iOS in 2012
• Dual Universe - released for Windows in 2022

 

Right. But what happens elsewhere won't affect Unity's bottom line.

I agree that even if there is a mass exodus of developers, it will take time for this to be reflected on Unity's balance sheet because of those long lead times.

The real concern for Unity is how the stock market will react to all the negative press. If investors think Unity has a gloomy future, the market will reflect that via sell orders over the coming weeks. If it's bad, and if Unity's reputation remains in the toilet, they won't likely recover.

Again, we shall see!

 

It is really hard to know that your installs will be because of piracy + multiple install+ hackers. You expose yourself to unlimited liability. If your revenue is over $1 million. The best option is to change your business model so that you stay under $1 million that is the only thing you can control.

 

We also do not buy Unity Pro licenses during that period and after, obviously.