Official Unity plan pricing and packaging updates

If you start with
"We are losing the mobile ad sector for which we merged with ironsource and bet our future on"
it's more direct.

 

To go to my post of a few minutes ago, I wonder how they managed to convince the board that this was the winning strategy. They must have promised huge returns or that 'the community would 100% be onboard' or maybe even both.

 

If the people that made this decision are fired or lose standing somehow, then yes, because others would think twice before following the same path.

 

the wording in FAQ clearly allows that and IronSource is known for its spyware techniques.
"We will refine how we collect install data over time"
"Any install data will be collected in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable privacy laws"

https://unity.com/pricing-updates


also interesting,

https://www.businessinsider.com/ironsource-denies-its-for-malware-2015-3?r=US&IR=T

 

Some people tried to make our community aware. But they where shot and shut down mostly by users and moderators. I recently saw an old thread where lurkin-ninja took his time shooting the messenger for talking about it.
I bet he's not so sceptical anymore.

 

We COULD under the TOS before April this year. The 2019 debacle was exactly why there was a clause in the TOS to prevent us from things like this. BUT... They removed that clause in April... Silently.... Giving us no chance to respond to it and to change then.

And now they do this.

I see, it's been in the making. And with those 3 months and 2 weeks they seem to think they're giving us "enough" time to prepare and change....

 

But that's one of the most interesting points of this all to me...

They want to make this live January 2024. Means we are already 9 months the tracking process of installs.
And there is no tracking possible right now.

Directly shows what bs they are pulling here

 

About the new policy install threshold, "200,000 lifetime game installs.", what is "lifetime" game install, a purchased game install or ?

Please advise.

 

who's good with math(s)
unity provided example in "How is the Unity Runtime Fee calculated?"
Using unity Pro:
- Revenue from last 12 months - $2M USD
- Lifetime installs - 5M
- Prior month installs (Standard fee countries) - 200K
- Prior month installs (Emerging market fee countries) - 100K
- The fee for install activity is $23.5K USD
https://unity.com/pricing-updates

So, average 1mo revenue would be 2000000/12 = ~166000usd

Question:
How much money the developer has left for that (average) month,
after platform fee, taxes, salaries, other costs & unity install fees??

 

Every install of a game on a unique device as long as the game remains on market. User has 3 devices and buys once = 3 installs.

 

Net is roughly 48%-55% of gross after marketplace fees, taxes, refunds etc
Expenses are not calculated on this..

 

It's just dawning on me. Is it possible you will all have to remove any successful unity games once you can't sell it above the usual cuts + unity run fee * average install per game sold?

 

As long as the revenue for the last 12 months for the game is less than $200,000 (personal) or $1,000,000 (pro/enterprise) then I don't think you qualify for the fees... if you're getting close to the threshold then make it free or stop selling it for a month or two. (which is better for players than deleting the game which some are suggesting)

Idea: what if you split your game into separate games then make under $1,000,000 in revenue per 12 months per game.... (though Unity might change the rules to prevent that technique)

 

It's time to step back from this stupid decision. No need to loss more Unity Devs. CEO, Godot will make good jump this year because of your price plan.

 

In Unity's example

5,000,000 / 300,000 = 16.66 months of sales
2,000,000 / 12 = $166,666.66 in revenue per month
16.66 * 166,666.66 = $2,776,666.56 Lifetime revenue
2,776,666.56 / 5,000,000 = $0.555 Average selling price

23,500 / 166,666.66 = 14.1 % of revenue is Unreal looking good yet? This example also has emerging market rates.

 

Blablabla.


What the hell are you talking about?

Please, do yourself a favor, look at the first release of the new fee structure,

the one that came directly from upper managment and was only rolled back because of the ABSOLUTE insanity of it all.
(you know, the one where piracy and repeated installs are all counted as installs to be paid in full)

That was the one what was INTENDED to be put forward.

A "surprise mechanic" like this, from nowhere, for no reason.

Or yeah, they are totally normal and trustworthy and really care about people who are trying to make living using this plattform.

Your knowledge of the trackrecord of the person in charge of this company(and somebody wanted him to take the position) is very limited. Certainly.

 

haha true.
the problem is that this is aimed at mobile games who don;t have that luxury
for PC and console the problem is no so bad in the first place.

 

Is anything preventing you from finding a build from back then and use it with the old TOS?

 

Congratulations on completely missing the points being made.

 

we all are (not really)

 

They already about doubled their recent contributions.

 

What about not collecting revenue for a month or two if you're getting close to the 12 month $1,000,000 threshold? That would mean no fees from Unity....

 

And so Unity just goes silent....please fire John Riccitiello.
We are not idiots, you F***ing IDIOT (look at what you did to a once great company)
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/ricci...ello, CEO of game,cycle are "F***ing idiots."

 

I don't know if you can do that. It would be an idea but i don't think it's really possible (the revenue is there even if you didn't collect it).
and of course there's the problem that many company need that income and can't just refuse 2 months of income. and after the year passed you wil have next year 14 months of income

 

We are watching history be made. The fall of Unity the plundering of an Empire. No young hero will arise hedonism bot will roam free.

 

To be precise, "lifetime game install" is referring to the "game installed" regardless of the game is purchased or not ?

 

I think they should really embrace the part and double down and present the fees we need to pay each month in loot box form.

Imagine the drama! The suspense! What is behind the loot box I just clicked on? Is it $500? Is it 50% of my revenue? Is it nothing? We’ll find out right after these messages from our sponsors!

 

Is not difficult for them, this is how their minds works, they know nothing about tech or gaming they just know how to f people for money, look, the same way you know how to optimize your game and they know nothing about that, the same way they know how to f a good product for money and you know nothing about that:

BTW that video, is not fake...

 

It does not matter what Unity does now, they have broken the trust - who knows what they can do in the future at random. Not good enough and that is why I stopped using it for my personal projects after being a Unity user since it was first available and having used it in many apps and games over the years.

It is a shame we are so in deep with Unity in my studio work else I would move the team over to an alternative and take the hit on reskilling them and saying that... we are currently in a prototype stage for a new game... nothing to say I wont do just that.

 

Okay.
We'll just do it differently. Since I am dependent on updates anyway.
Maybe a tip for all Patreon users:
Ergo:
- build your project
- then do a beckup
- write the drawers of your project, plain:
again over into a 2. project
- do the next build there.
Conclusion:
1. nobody cares, you have the time to reimport.
2. it is not very interesting otherwise, because project settings and co. are easy to get in. (Who needs them, I have no tags, etc.)
3. you are ready to work again with the import.
4. it is another project ID
5. with it a new project
== your Install Counter = null-
Hook: works of course only if 1 build doesn't reach 200k.
then every update becomes a new game.

 

I know this pricing is crap, but I can' change engines. Switching to unreal will be too expensive and its pricing structure is still worse. Unreal also has strong links with C ( P, and are arguably worse than unity morally speaking. ( Where is the Epic hate?). Unity have a better engine, just phenomenally bad at marketing.
I still hate unity less than I hate epic, so I guess I'll stick with Unity.

 

IS UNITY 2019 Affectet ?

https://gist.github.com/runevision/1c0d6a856dda1461577cf7f84574253a

do anyone here knows, if unity 2019 is affectet by Runtime fee ?
Reson is: i stay @ 2019, not today, not in 10 years, not in 100 years i update.
its 100% not interesting, because all newer Unityversions, are not fit to me.

So anyone knows this ?

 

They could also change it for the better, ie fix the obvious loopholes for starters, or ditch it.

 

Problem is not just the Pricing Value.
It s not that Point alone. You can move your Assets in the most cases
(Models, Animations, Textures... ) only Scripted cant move.


BUT:
anyone who has ever tried to get started with Unreal at all wonders how Epic ever got so big. Theoretically, they owe every user compensation.
Raytargeting alone, swapping protagonists and many many countless workflows, are pure stone age. Like animation montages and other things. The Unreal Engine does not even have ( V ) a snap system out of the box, does not exist.
In short:
The render pipeline - is very good, no question!
but the workflow is 200% stone age, 500% more time consuming, and 1000% pure inquisition.

 

interesting thought and somewhat scary possibility here

TLDR,
Unity is fine dropping +90% of their users (those who "wont be affected" / "free loaders" & those who are upset),
Unity still gets more money from companies who cannot easily transfer to other engines..(at least in short term view)

from
https://twitter.com/dev_spajus/status/1703343230018855138

 

I'm continuing to evaluate other engines... but my reflections are mostly on things that are very important to me, such as MecAnim which allows me to have compatible animations even on different bones.

Where do I find all this?

 

Godot has just announced that they are getting full c# support; so, with that being 100% free, I would suggest you (and I am too) switch to that platform. They don't hire ex-EA executives to run/ruin the company.

 

I do agree with you and i hate epic as a company.
And I agree that for many of us unity is better (+time invested in learning and money in assets). The problem is that the management at unity is so bad that the future of this engine doesn't look good.
Let's see : UITookit is not finished after so many time (it misses a lot of vital features of in game UI), DOTS is finished only as a core (still misses animation, sounds, ai etc). Unreal began the work on something similar to DOTS after unity but now they are done with the core and all the other stuff is experimental without future api changes, so they are actually ahead. My point is that unity is so focused on services that the engine is falling behind.
I love unity and i hate epic , but i am afraid i will not have a choice! the future of unity doesn't look good, unfortunately

 

Yeah sorry. My bad.

Doing a Unreal course on the side, did not pay enough attention. Your are correct.

 

with this bones, you can help yourself with Scripts.
Also i for my example, do not use mecanim Transitions or other things.
*but**
Watch other thigns to:

- Saving System
- Code Changes
- Material Editor you need to do from 0 again
- complete other construction of Objects (for example Godot)
- complete other rules (Flax)

Shortly: you really stand on 0. Maybe you "know" what is a Material, okay.
but htis is only you know. Maybe you know what is a mesh or something, an animation.
but this means : nothing.
Even with all the things you know, you noob.

Next problem is:
"Particle Systems? "How.
Saving Systems ? how
Handle UI ? How ?

How much Months up to years, to understand all this from scratch again ?
1 year ? 2 years ?
to growth to a advenced User, you will need not lesser than 2 Years.
it s not done with a moving Cube what can go forward, backward.

next: Toturials. There to find ? Are less around. Flax nearly have nothing.
Godot may growth, but is also not helpful in every situation,
the Net Resources are lesser
the community this time is smaller
it s s start from scratch without to have good material for.
also no Udemy Courses, no Game Dev Courses in a big amount, happy to find only 1ne...

communitys are smaller, how to get help ?
There to get Assets for ? mostly: controllers or other helper not around.

The contra side is unreal.
But the workflow of Unreal is so much painful, no unity user will be really happy, to go back to the stoneage.

 

I had a quick look. Godot is missing a mountain of tools that I need. ie Character Creators bespoke shader export options by the legendary soupday to make characters look awesome, and many, many other tools . For a micro project that doesn't require assets then it would be a possibility.

 

If they will flourish, we are screwd.
After subscriptions for anything, a LOT of DLC for games, lootboxes and other stuff we will enter in an era when the user will pey per action (along with twitter, reddit)! That will be the time when i will burn my PC and start gardening!

 

So you just sure all this people and media fire just for fun and you came here and explain everything to everbody? We did math and its super expensive for mobile developers where profit per install super low below 0.2. Is that so difficult to process?

 

new analysis on the situation and is very interesting.
Especially the part of stock dumping of high level unity employees.

 

Interesting... this is your fist post... just saying.

remember "one dlc at launch, what's the big issue?!" or "lootboxes for some cosmetics, why do you care?!" and look where are we now!

 

Can someone send again the graph showing the percentage of revenue on one axis and the ARPU on the other?

 

True .... it is opensource though and has a flock of people streaming in now. People will build the required tools that makes us ex-unity devs a bit more at home, I have no doubt.
For now, I guess we are all having a hard time dealing with this B.S greed & trust issues.

 

The 90% is where the 10% come from. It's a terrible long term strat.

I doubt I'll make $1 mil in sales so I suspect this pricing change will have no effect. And if I do, I can pay it to keep the engine going for everyone else.
What will affect me is large numbers of people leaving and having less support. that's the thing I most worry about.

 

The gas company has a counter at the entry of your house/appartement which is certified and which proves the volume of gas that has been delivered.

 

You have expressed most of my thoughts, assessments and concerns exactly.

I've been developing my game for a year and a half... and now how can I start from scratch, also having to study a new engine that doesn't even have shared resources to make my work at least partially easier?

What a mess!
But I can't stay on Unity with these crazy psychopaths running the company.