- Unity has announced a significant policy change, introducing a ‘Unity Runtime Fee’ for game installations, starting from January 1, 2024.
- High-profile developers, including Massive Monster (Cult of the Lamb), InnerSloth (Among Us), and Mega Crit (Slay the Spire), have voiced their concerns and are considering alternative game engines. Cult of the Lamb will be deleted by its developer on January 1.
- This policy change has raised questions about Unity’s future relationship with game developers.
Unity, a well-known game engine developer, made an announcement about a policy change that’s about as welcome at a summer BBQ as a White Walker, shocking the gaming community.
Unity intends to introduce a new “Unity Runtime Fee” depending on game installations starting on January 1, 2024. This will become a charge as Unity-based games reach specific install and revenue milestones. The statement has caused a rift in the development community, with many people expressing their worries and annoyances.
The structure of the fee is the essence of the matter. Following 200,000 downloads and more than $200,000 in income, producers of games made with Unity’s free tier will be charged $0.20 for each game installation. Users of the Unity Pro tier will pay less, but there are far higher thresholds for when these charges become applicable.
The announcement made by Unity has had a widespread impact.Numerous well-known developers have voiced their concerns with the new policy, with many wondering if they would still work with Unity in the future.
In a panic, several publishers and developers of Unity games that haven’t been revealed yet are attempting to save their deals in light of this information. The main worry, shared by many, is that this new cost structure may make game creation unsustainable, particularly when taking into account installations made possible by subscription services like Xbox Game Pass.
The creator of the critically praised action-roguelite Cult of the Lamb is one of the most vocal. Massive Monster has declared that the game will no longer be available for purchase on January 1st due to the unpopular policy. The developer says in its most recent tweet, “We’re deleting Cult of the Lamb on January 1st, so buy it now.” The developer goes on to say that the policy at Unity will force a big switch to a new game engine for its next projects.
Parallel to this, independent game developers—like the groups behind Slay the Spire and Among Us (InnerSloth and Mega Crit, respectively)—have cautioned loudly about leaving the Unity game engine environment. For example, InnerSloth has publicly stated that it plans to delay the release of new content in order to smooth the switch to different game engines. In the meantime, Mega Crit has made an extraordinary public declaration in which it vehemently declares that even after spending two years working on a new Unity-based game, it is ready to switch to a different engine in the event that Unity continues to implement what it views as a harmful policy.
Unity has made an effort to put out the fires by making some of the policy’s ambiguities clear. It says that the cost will only apply to the first installation of a game. Additionally, developers won’t be burdened by installations through subscription services because platform holders are supposed to cover those expenses.
This explanation, though, doesn’t do much to stem the growing wave of rage and frustration. Actually, Unity had to postpone a town hall meeting that was supposed to happen yesterday due to the receipt of real threats including death.
John Riccitiello, the CEO of Unity, is the only person we need to look for blame if we have to assign blame. The American executive was previously president of Electronic Arts. Although he has a terrible reputation in the industry for advocating microtransactions, he is credited with pulling EA out of their slumping game releases.
Regretfully, the majority of gamers recall him as the guy who remarked, “You’re really not very price sensitive at that point in time when you are six hours into playing Battlefield and you run out of ammo in your clip, and we ask you for a dollar to reload.”
Many developers have long looked to Unity as a guide, but this new change in policy has raised concerns about the company’s viability. The outcome of this will only become clear with time, but it is clear that coders will not go along with this new plan of action without a battle.
Steam offers Cult of the Lamb for PC, Mac OS X, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.