Unity has announced a new policy where developers will be charged a fee for each game released using the Unity game engine. Understandably devs are upset by this as this policy extends to games that are included in subscription services like Xbox Game Pass meaning games that players can access for free will have a small fee attached to them for the developers if the game uses the Unity engine.
What Does Unity’s New Policy Mean for Developers?
With this new policy this essentially means that any game developed using Unity’s engine with now incur a small fee upon publishing and release. However given the recent backlash to this its easy to think that if this is to go ahead then developers will abandon Unity for other game engines.
While details remain somewhat hazy until a full clarifying statement is made from Unity, the current info we have is that a fee will be charged to all games EVERY time they are installed, as opposed to just a one of install fee. This includes every time a game is uninstalled and then reinstalled at a later date. We can confirm that charity games will not be charged but demo’s unfortunately are also eligible for the fee charge.
How Will This Affect Unity and The Devs Who Use It?
If recent backlash from all corners of the community is anything to go by then this is sure to hit Unity quite hard in regards to who will use Unity in the future and who will play games using the engine without wanting to incur a fee for the developers of said game. This could ultimately lead to people pirating more games to avoid the fee which in turn adversely affects the developers as they won’t see any profits from pirating, leaving fans stuck between a rock and a hard place for not wanting to hit the devs with this fee but they also don’t want to leave the developers with no profit from their releases.
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What Does Unity Have to Say For Itself?
Well at the current time of writing there has been promise of a full explanation as to why this decision has been made and the nitty gritty of what it will entail but as of now said explanation hasn’t been put out just yet. So far they have shared that only those with largely successful games will be charged the fee and sees those that are still building up their business will not be hit with the fee. However there is a chance that the amount of backlash they have received could see them doing a complete double take and rethinking this strategy but only time will tell. We eagerly await for them to clarify fully.
As per a tweet from Unity themselves (linked below) that was published at the time of writing this article it has shed some light on its recent decision and change in policy. In the tweet it was shared that large developers with successful games will be charged a small fee starting from January 1st 2024 for the initial installation of games by these developers as opposed to the previously rumoured perpetual ongoing charge for all installations, developers that are starting out and have smaller games without as much of a following will not be charged. Unity has tried to save its skin a little bit by offering discounts on this fee to those that use other services provided by Unity but haven’t disclosed what said discount will be.
What are your thoughts on the decision from Unity? Do you think it’s a good move or is it a disconnected attempt to make more money off their partners games than necessary? Let us know in the comments!
Source: Twitter
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