Asking money for each (re)install?
What if I uninstall game, then change my mind and install again? How many times they will have to pay it?
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I've seen people say that it does and it doesn't. Also that's if the "system" of detecting the install figures out you're not on a new device, etc.
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next step: add loot on their contracts. you'll login daily to redeem the daily loot with perks for developers.
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Context:
Industry veteran Simon Carless believes it's a straightforward business decision: Unity wants a "semi-trackable" way to more effectively monetize its biggest customers, most of whom are mobile games, and it's willing to sacrifice a relatively small part of its business—game engine revenues as a whole only account for about 23% of Unity's revenues, and the PC/console segment is just a small part of that—to make it happen. Unity also offers credits that can be applied toward the Runtime Fee charges for users of its Levelplay service, but that's only available on mobile devices—PC developers can't take advantage.
And even if the change doesn't impact the majority of small developers on Unity, Carless—like many others—said it's not just about the money involved.
"Ultimately, this is about trust. As a game creator, you have a deep relationship with your engine provider, because you're locked into it," he wrote on his GameDiscoverCo newsletter. "Perhaps most small and medium PC & console devs won't be affected significantly by these biz model changes—and we suspect this might be true. But the fact you could be, in unexpected ways that are untrackable or uncontrollable by you—is mentally untenable."
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Unity CEO John Riccitiello received a total compensation of $11,805,430 in 2022.
Unity executives sold $3.9M in shares days before the price change announcement.
Just for some perspective.
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lol @ humble bundle launching a godot development bundle ;-)
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wow never heard of it but here this curator has nearly 1100 games they say are made with it - https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41324400-Is-it-made-with-Godot/
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I just saw the Godot bundle a few hours ago, and I think it's really cool that there are several "Humble Bundle Only" classes in the package.
Timing is everything, and HB timed this release very well.
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I'm just happy I never switched from GameMaker to Unity, and there were times I was told "the sooner you switch the easier it's gonna be later on". My logic was always "this works superfine for 2D games so why would I?"
I feel for the devs using Unity, I had the similar scare every time GM was sold (to Yoyo, then to some gambling business, then to Opera...) but luckily they never changed the terms in such a ridiculous way.
To quote the world-famous Tim Cain, "it's always best if you own the source and rights to your tools and games" but yeah, no way I'm making an engine lol.
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i dont know what i would do without a built in image editor.
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As far as I remember GM was also in a scandal once they switched from one time purchase to a subscription based one.
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As I mentioned,
I had the similar scare every time GM was sold (to Yoyo, then to some gambling business, then to Opera...)
but they never tried to make retroactive changes - they push a new version with different rules instead - and even with subscription, you're still paying to be able to export like you used to (developing and testing is free), you're not paying % on sold/installed copies. That's crazy.
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They can't make developers pay anything for the games that are already out, definitely not legally enforceable. It would be laughable if you can just change contract conditions like that on a whim. As for the future ones it's not good, no questions about that. It is expensive and/or time-consuming changing engines, and not that there are that many choices to begin with.
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I've got a solution for devs.
They say they'll be tracking installs and can do it reliably, without counting pirate copies. So every dev can now just encourage their users to buy the game, but never install it legitimately, instead grabbing the game from an 'alternative' source.
Or alternatively add a call back to their own systems which counts installs and if the global count gets to 200 000 for that year, then no one else can install it until some 'slots' have opened up.
I am kidding, in case it isn't obvious. But really, what a fiasco this is. I'm developing my game in Unity, and although I don't have much faith I'll hit the required numbers, it is still making me wonder how much of a pain it would be to switch engine this late in the development.
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Flappy Bird maker ordered to pay 12 million Dollars - https://hard-drive.net/hd/video-games/flappy-bird-guy-gets-12-million-bill-from-unity/
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That seems like a joke article though
Please just leave me alone! Also, I didn’t even use the Unity engine.”
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it’s paramount to all of our success that you stand back and let the grown ups manipulate the thing they’re passionate about in a way that prioritizes shaking people down for every fucking cent we can
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EDIT: yeah.. that's satire
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About
Hard Drive is a very real video games news site that you should not question. Just absorb the information as truth and move on. JK it’s satire don’t ban us.
It's in their about page. They make fake articles like the onion except these are bad.
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Terraria developers donated $100k to Godot and FNA each, with promise of additional $1k per month to support open source engines. They don't even use Unity, did it just because they could.
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Unity backpedaled A LOT.
I think they started realising that pretty much all developers will jump ship if they don't change course.
https://blog.unity.com/news/open-letter-on-runtime-fee
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update - some big named or at least in important placed person have or are now leaving
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231009494331/en/Unity-Announces-Leadership-Transition
https://www.eurogamer.net/unity-ceo-john-riccitiello-retiring-from-company-weeks-after-pricing-controversy
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67063855
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more likely he was sent packing (with a goodbye present that is more than the totally of all of our money on here for like 100 years) in the hope that Unity is still trusted enough to use
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in the hope that Unity is still trusted enough to use
That's the question indeed. As developers announced already to transition away from Unity engine will there be enough fools who trust them again?
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Only those that didn't hear from it yet I guess.
And I also heard rumours that schools would pivot away from unity so if true they lost the upcoming devs as well
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I have checked and haven't seen a topic here so far which surprises me a bit (maybe I searched for the wrong keywords and there is a thread). I have now seen some remarks on two Discords and looked up the news myself now. Basically, Unity does intend to change their licensing model which also includes a fee for each install of the game being made (after reaching certain tresholds).
My first reaction was that this is absolutely ridiculous to ask for money for (re)installs. Unity does not have higher costs just because someone installs games multiple times or different devices. In worst case this leads to situations where developers try to save their hide and limit the number of installations (just one time?) Or have to ask money themselves every install to cover the costs.
Then after reading the actual news announcement, I still think that the idea is ridiculous. But if I understand the system correctly, it is not as terrible as I initially believed, though STILL terrible. As there are certain situations, where it could lead to troubles like for example a free weekend after an initial sales phase. Also, I think I already read the "clarified/backpadelled" version and the initial text described a worse version.
So, what are your opinions on the topic?
EDIT: Example information
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2067920/view/3721717841527261981
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