Unity plan pricing and packaging updates

[the-pi-guy]

Unity Blog


Stole Summary from Era

* Unity will charge a one-time fee per player based on them installing (and initializing) the game
* Fee scaling is dependent on revenue thresholds. $200k/200k installs for Personal, $1M/1M for Pro
* For Pro/Enterprise, the cost scales downwards to $0.02/$0.01 per install, but for Personal it remains at $0.20
* Unity Plus is getting retired, the 100k rev limit on Unity Personal is being replaced with the payments above

[Legend]

I'll need to double check the fine print but sounds good.

200k installs is way above what I expect with Hapax. If I reach that, that'd be millions in profit and a Unity cut is more than fair.

Also $0.20 per install is fine for me. That's like 1% and better than other methods.

Cheap games will hate this but it seems really good for premium games.

[kitler53]

as i'm not a game developer i have no opinion on this and yet i'm posting here anyways...

[the-pi-guy]

SIGH pic.twitter.com/YgJEKGVQEI

— AGGRO CRAB (@AggroCrabGames) September 12, 2023

Could this affect Gamepass/PS+ games?

Another tip from Inside Unity. Demos count as installs. So all those Steam Fest demos doing big numbers, get ready to pay per install. Or leave your demo up all year to convert ppl to buying your game. 1 sale ($10) = ~66 demo installs. Good luck! NON STARTER Unity.#gamedev

— George Broussard (@georgebsocial) September 12, 2023

[Legend]

SIGH pic.twitter.com/YgJEKGVQEI

— AGGRO CRAB (@AggroCrabGames) September 12, 2023

Could this affect Gamepass/PS+ games?

Another tip from Inside Unity. Demos count as installs. So all those Steam Fest demos doing big numbers, get ready to pay per install. Or leave your demo up all year to convert ppl to buying your game. 1 sale ($10) = ~66 demo installs. Good luck! NON STARTER Unity.#gamedev

— George Broussard (@georgebsocial) September 12, 2023

Wait, reading the fine print it sounds like Unity is going to calculate this fee themselves. What the fudge?

So yeah you'd be charged for pirated copies if their system didn't flag them. You'd be charged for people that download the game onto multiple pcs.



I am happy with this fee on the surface but yeah the details are damning. Also it applies to already released games and that power on their end to just randomly make new terms is incredibly scary. I'll abandon Unity as quickly as possible if this is really what's happening.

[kitler53]

so like,.. a lot of that is bad.  pirated copies.  multiple installs from the same user.   

...but i kind of like the impact it has on gamepass/ps+.   MSony will have to cover that cost or no developer will sign with them.  it gets right to the heart of the problem that these services created: the only true benefactor is MSony.   

[the-pi-guy]

turning a big dial taht says "fees" on it and constantly looking back at the audience for approval like a contestant on the price is right https://t.co/uM1AKFypSz

— Imran Khan (@imranzomg) September 13, 2023

[Legend]

so like,.. a lot of that is bad.  pirated copies.  multiple installs from the same user.  

...but i kind of like the impact it has on gamepass/ps+.   MSony will have to cover that cost or no developer will sign with them.  it gets right to the heart of the problem that these services created: the only true benefactor is MSony.  

That's what I assumed they were going for. They just wanted to charge 20 cents per sale but used the word "install" so that it would apply to subscriptions.

Yet nope. Gamepass not included.

NEW - I got a major update from Unity about their new fees
- Unity "regrouped" and now says ONLY the initial installation of a game triggers a fee
- Demos mostly won't trigger fees
- Devs not on the hook for Game Pass

More here:https://t.co/GCKjEeFtYR

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) September 13, 2023

[Legend]

No wait Unity is just making things up now. "Whitten said that developers like Aggro Crab would not be on the hook, as the fees are charged to distributors, which in the Game Pass example would be Microsoft."

So no dev would have to ever pay these fees? It's always Sony, Microsoft, Steam, or itch doing the distributing.

[the-pi-guy]

How would that even work? Microsoft gets put on the hook for someone else's game?

[Legend]

How would that even work? Microsoft gets put on the hook for someone else's game?

Like I like it better because it means the games aren't being updated to phone home, but yeah it's confusing. edt: no seems they're doing that too

They have one line on their FAQ page saying distributors will be charged yet everything else acts like you the dev will be charged.

[kitler53]

How can they do that?

Saucy. 

[Legend]

Updated Terms of Service and commitment to being an open platform | Unity Blog

From 2019 "When you obtain a version of Unity, and don't upgrade your project, we think you should be able to stick to that version of the TOS."

And now today by a Unity lawyer "Our terms of service provide that Unity may add or change fees at any time. We are providing more than three months advance notice of the Unity Runtime Fee before it goes into effect. Consent is not required for additional fees to take effect, and the only version of our terms is the most current version; you simply cannot choose to comply with a prior version. Further, our terms are governed by California law, notwithstanding the country of the customer. "

Boils my blood. If this only applied to new games or games that upgraded Unity versions, it'd be whatever. Instead it shows that using Unity is a liability.

The contract is made up and the rules don't matter in their mind.

[kitler53]

sorry, what?  

the lawyer says the new ToS only apply to the latest version.  so if you don't want the new ToS stay on the older version. 

there must be a new version even if the only thing in it is the new ToS.  so when you say:

If this only applied to new games or games that upgraded Unity versions, it'd be whatever.

it sounds like you are saying the exact opposite of what you posted from that unity lawyer. 

[kitler53]

just checked unity's stock.  flat AF.  surprised it's not down after all this.   I wouldn't invest in them right now.