{"id":27362,"date":"2023-09-19T16:31:27","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T15:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geimers.com\/?p=27362"},"modified":"2025-05-08T12:03:28","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T11:03:28","slug":"what-is-happening-with-unity-and-why-is-everyone-against-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geimers.com\/en\/what-is-happening-with-unity-and-why-is-everyone-against-it\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Happening With Unity and Why is Everyone Against it?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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A few days ago, Unity Technologies, the company behind one of the most widely used game engines, announced a new installation fee plan that has put developers (and players) up in arms. This new fee will go into effect on January 1, 2024, and will result in an additional cost every time the game (or software) in question is installed, and this cost must be covered by the developer. This clearly attacks studio budgets, especially independent ones, and worse, is seen as a betrayal of their trust since there was no prior warning.<\/p>

How is this fee structured?<\/h2>

The fee, called Unity Runtime, will charge a monthly premium for each installation once the game exceeds the established earnings over the last 12 months. Additionally, a certain number of lifetime installations must also be surpassed; these do not reset.<\/p>

For those using the free personal version or Unity Plus, a charge of $0.20 USD will apply after exceeding $200,000 USD in revenue and 200,000 installations. For users of Unity Pro and Enterprise, the threshold is $1,000,000 USD and 1 million installations. Accounts associated with Unity Pro will face an extra fee that starts at $0.15 USD for the first 100,000 installations, which reduces to $0.02 USD after surpassing 1 million installations. For Unity Enterprise, the extra is $0.125 USD for the first 100,000 installations, reducing to $0.01 USD after 1 million installations. Additionally, there is an extra charge for reinstallations in the same month, which is $0.02 USD, $0.01 USD, and $0.05 USD per installation for Plus, Pro, and Enterprise users, respectively.<\/p>

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Though at first glance these fees may not seem high, a quick calculation reveals the massive additional cost this will impose on studios, particularly smaller ones or personal projects. Additionally, while earnings are calculated over 12-month periods, downloads simply add up indefinitely, including reinstalls, and it is not clarified whether this applies equally to browser-based applications. Even more troubling is the case of free-to-play games, which, lacking per-unit sales revenue, will see their profits shrink the more popular they become. Some users have even pointed out the risk of groups of players organizing to deliberately reinstall a game multiple times, thus incurring sky-high extra costs for the responsible company.<\/p>

Repercussions following the announcement of the Unity Runtime fee<\/h2>

The aftermath of the new fee\u2019s announcement was swift, as social media and the internet filled with posts opposing the tech giant.<\/p>

From the official Massive Monster account on Twitter, a statement was published requesting Unity to \u201cstop being rubbish.\u201d It clarifies their stance regarding the new fee, hinting that their upcoming projects will be developed on another engine. The post ends with a cute animation pooping on the Unity logo.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Stop the stink @unity<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ijme9wQ89m<\/a><\/p>— Massive Monster \ud83d\ude4f\ud83d\udc11 (@MassiveMonster) September 13, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote>