Unity Technologies has stated that PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo will pay the company's new runtime fee on behalf of game developers.
A new FAQ has been shared by Unity Technologies, which answers questions regarding the company's recent change in pricing plan for its game development engine.
According to the FAQ, the Unity runtime fee will be charged to the entity that distributes
They are trying to make a power play against these companies to strike out a deal due to their market share
A problem I see with it is that games that push console sales are made on Unreal (or internal engine) not Unity
However the amount of negative press is overblown as they are starting far in order to give things up during negotiations. And despite saying it’s only charged on first install; I’ve seen people claim it will bankrupt devs
I support devs switching from Unity to Godot but I feel like in a year’s time it won’t really matter as people are more likely to get hired for Unity
However the amount of negative press is overblown as they are starting far in order to give things up during negotiations. And despite saying it’s only charged on first install; I’ve seen people claim it will bankrupt devs
It’s charged on ever reinstall, not only on the first.
Whitten told Axios that the company would actually only charge for an initial installation.
Unity’s free tier of development services would owe Unity $0.20 per installation once their game hit thresholds of 200,000 downloads and earn $200,000 in revenue.
With pro plans having lower fees and a higher threshold, the majority of devs aren’t going to feel this
Aren’t there enough FOSS gamw engines out in the wild to keep indie authors and small companies working without concern for this kind of crap?
Contributing with a cash amount to have work done on any engine would be cheaper and more useful for all parts involved than having to deal with these vampires.
There is a viable open source competitor, godot. The issue is that for many developers who have invested years into their current project, moving engines midway is a ton of effort that might break them financially.
Viable, yes, but I don’t think Godot currently matches up to Unity in terms of capability. I do think this will very much get an impetus going for people & studios to invest into Godot’s development, though.
I’m sorry, but I’d be more terrified of Microsoft. A company worth more than nations, (current market cap puts it about the 10th richest country in the world), and who routinely tells other companies to pony up - and they do (look up a software audit if you want to see a corporate shakedown).
Sorry to nitpick, but I see the comparison of a company market cap with country GDP a lot and it’s a pet peeve of mine lol. Market cap is the value of the company, while GDP is equivalent to the total “revenue” that a country’s economy generated that year. So a better comparison would be 2022 Microsoft revenue vs 2022 GDP of a country.
And gdp is one of the worst ways to measure the economy of the country.
You don’t need to be sorry. I guess I should rephrase my original statement to say Microsoft could buy unity, and the shareholders might not even notice in the quarterly earnings call.
Market cap isn’t even really the value of a company. It’s just the last trade price times the number of shares. If someone wanted to buy it, the price would be higher. If someone wanted to sell it, the price would be lower.
It’s unclear if Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are aware of this particular change in policy, and whether they’d be willing to comply with Unity Technologies.
If they aren’t already paying royalties to Unity on behalf of the devs, then I can almost guarantee they won’t be paying royalties in the future. If they are doing that, then the devs might want to double check their revenue, because that may mean that Unity’s been double-dipping on royalties (taking royalties from distribution through Sony, MS and Nintendo, and then taking them again directly from the devs).
He could be the kind of person who writes things down on his vision board, then sends his thoughts out into the universe to make them come true. Like Elon.
It’s like when CDPR said everyone could get refunds for CP2077 without talking to the stores first, then were shocked when Sony removed it from the PlayStation Store.
Yep, although at least that was a pro-consumer move on CDPR’s part. It’s very understandable why Sony wasn’t happy about it, but it wasn’t a shady move on CDPR’s part. Whereas the same definitely can’t be said for Unity right now.
It’s more, you gotta let your partners know before you announce something major. The reason Sony had to pull it was because they only allow refunds after a certain point on defective games, and they can’t sell a game they know is defective. So the only way they could do blanket refunds is if the game is labeled defective, which means they can’t sell it. Giving Sony a bit of a heads up might’ve meant they could have changed their policy, which would have been better long run for consumers.
Oh absolutely, I agree! I just wanted to point out that CDPR’s move was at least well-intentioned so it’s harder to judge them poorly for it. But you’re right that communication is important in these situations.
Technically, CDPR being based in Europe were just informing people of their stuatory right to a refund within the first 14 days of any digital or online purchase. This highlighted that Sony have been managing to skirt that legislation with their policy’s and not having a proper refund system in place so they threw a wobbler and took the game down. CDPR were in the right, legally speaking, with that one.
People keep telling me that PC gaming is expensive and yet I pay no subscription fees and have plenty of choice for which storefront to purchase from so game prices tend to stay low outside a few exceptions.
I made the argument that it’s expensive but it was more based on the idea that I can get a cheapo used console with a few games and that’ll do me for a whole generation. That and I think that PC gaming has a deeper void to get sucked into (mainly keyboards and monitors)
But now a couple weeks later and I realize that I really enjoy my crappy business desktop PC and I could see building a PC in the future.
They each have their advantages. When I go to a friends house we play console. At home I’d rather play PC, if I had the choice.
I just recently locked in 3 more years of game pass ultimate for $180. That’s $5 a month to play 100+ games on console or PC. Granted, much of the catalog is games I already own or games I’m not interested in, but if I play just one full priced game a year from game pass it is paying for itself. Most recently that would be Starfield, and when I got bored after a couple hours there was no pressure to “get my money’s worth”. I simply uninstalled and moved on.
I realize game pass prices are going up and this deal won’t be available forever, but this is my 2nd time around already so the last several years of console gaming have been cheap as shit.
That’s my outlook on gamepass. I hardly ever use a console, own 3 xbocs and only know where 1 is and that’s sitting in the corner of my living room unplugged for at least 2 years. I get gamepass ultimate a couple times a year for a game or 2 and play for a few weeks then cancel it and move on.
You see, making games is so expensive nowadays. So, now the starting price will be $80 and there will be a convenience fee for every install. No, it doesn’t matter that the game doesn’t use Unity, we will charge it anyways, just in case.
Isn’t the new model based partly on game and/or studio revenue? Sounds really scummy if you put it that way: Unity announces new pricing structure -> costs for devs rise -> they increase game prices -> now they reach the revenue threshold quicker and more often -> costs for devs rise…
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Good luck doing that too Nintendo. They’re professional dicks
Out of your goddamn mind, Ricey Boi.
Oh, so is this the result of some negotiation with them, or are they just saying random shit again?
They are trying to make a power play against these companies to strike out a deal due to their market share
A problem I see with it is that games that push console sales are made on Unreal (or internal engine) not Unity
However the amount of negative press is overblown as they are starting far in order to give things up during negotiations. And despite saying it’s only charged on first install; I’ve seen people claim it will bankrupt devs
I support devs switching from Unity to Godot but I feel like in a year’s time it won’t really matter as people are more likely to get hired for Unity
It’s charged on ever reinstall, not only on the first.
https://www.axios.com/2023/09/13/unity-runtime-fee-policy-marc-whitten
With pro plans having lower fees and a higher threshold, the majority of devs aren’t going to feel this
When are they gonna tell Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo?
Yet another wanton feudal lordship seeking its rent.
No, they won’t. Unity has an agreement with the devs not the platform holders
all that will happen is that unity games won’t appear on subscription services
Aren’t there enough FOSS gamw engines out in the wild to keep indie authors and small companies working without concern for this kind of crap?
Contributing with a cash amount to have work done on any engine would be cheaper and more useful for all parts involved than having to deal with these vampires.
There is a viable open source competitor, godot. The issue is that for many developers who have invested years into their current project, moving engines midway is a ton of effort that might break them financially.
Viable, yes, but I don’t think Godot currently matches up to Unity in terms of capability. I do think this will very much get an impetus going for people & studios to invest into Godot’s development, though.
There is at least godot
And some pretty well known recent indie games have been made in Godot, like Cassette Beasts.
Cruelty Squad was made in Godot. Don’t know if that’s an endorsement or not as the game is deliberately hideous, but…yeah.
They have pretty extensive showcase of games made in Godot on their website.
Roflmao.
Meanwhile, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony:
Nintendo is gonna lawyer up at the speed of God before they’d pay unity a fucking cent.
I’m sorry, but I’d be more terrified of Microsoft. A company worth more than nations, (current market cap puts it about the 10th richest country in the world), and who routinely tells other companies to pony up - and they do (look up a software audit if you want to see a corporate shakedown).
Nintendo looooves to sue people over so many things though
Sorry to nitpick, but I see the comparison of a company market cap with country GDP a lot and it’s a pet peeve of mine lol. Market cap is the value of the company, while GDP is equivalent to the total “revenue” that a country’s economy generated that year. So a better comparison would be 2022 Microsoft revenue vs 2022 GDP of a country.
And gdp is one of the worst ways to measure the economy of the country.
You don’t need to be sorry. I guess I should rephrase my original statement to say Microsoft could buy unity, and the shareholders might not even notice in the quarterly earnings call.
Unity would like that though.
Market cap isn’t even really the value of a company. It’s just the last trade price times the number of shares. If someone wanted to buy it, the price would be higher. If someone wanted to sell it, the price would be lower.
You’re assuming Nintendo ever lawyers down
Will they tho?
Going into a legal dick measuring match with 3 of the most hardcore litigious corps in the tech world.
Sounds smart.
Nintendoss lawyers right now:
If they aren’t already paying royalties to Unity on behalf of the devs, then I can almost guarantee they won’t be paying royalties in the future. If they are doing that, then the devs might want to double check their revenue, because that may mean that Unity’s been double-dipping on royalties (taking royalties from distribution through Sony, MS and Nintendo, and then taking them again directly from the devs).
He could be the kind of person who writes things down on his vision board, then sends his thoughts out into the universe to make them come true. Like Elon.
It’s like when CDPR said everyone could get refunds for CP2077 without talking to the stores first, then were shocked when Sony removed it from the PlayStation Store.
Yep, although at least that was a pro-consumer move on CDPR’s part. It’s very understandable why Sony wasn’t happy about it, but it wasn’t a shady move on CDPR’s part. Whereas the same definitely can’t be said for Unity right now.
It’s more, you gotta let your partners know before you announce something major. The reason Sony had to pull it was because they only allow refunds after a certain point on defective games, and they can’t sell a game they know is defective. So the only way they could do blanket refunds is if the game is labeled defective, which means they can’t sell it. Giving Sony a bit of a heads up might’ve meant they could have changed their policy, which would have been better long run for consumers.
Oh absolutely, I agree! I just wanted to point out that CDPR’s move was at least well-intentioned so it’s harder to judge them poorly for it. But you’re right that communication is important in these situations.
Technically, CDPR being based in Europe were just informing people of their stuatory right to a refund within the first 14 days of any digital or online purchase. This highlighted that Sony have been managing to skirt that legislation with their policy’s and not having a proper refund system in place so they threw a wobbler and took the game down. CDPR were in the right, legally speaking, with that one.
So this is why we go ps plus and xbox game pass prices go up :D xd
People keep telling me that PC gaming is expensive and yet I pay no subscription fees and have plenty of choice for which storefront to purchase from so game prices tend to stay low outside a few exceptions.
I used to make comments like this and stopped a month ago because peeps hated me saying this or got argumentative with me. Look at you now! LMAO
I made the argument that it’s expensive but it was more based on the idea that I can get a cheapo used console with a few games and that’ll do me for a whole generation. That and I think that PC gaming has a deeper void to get sucked into (mainly keyboards and monitors)
But now a couple weeks later and I realize that I really enjoy my crappy business desktop PC and I could see building a PC in the future.
They each have their advantages. When I go to a friends house we play console. At home I’d rather play PC, if I had the choice.
I just recently locked in 3 more years of game pass ultimate for $180. That’s $5 a month to play 100+ games on console or PC. Granted, much of the catalog is games I already own or games I’m not interested in, but if I play just one full priced game a year from game pass it is paying for itself. Most recently that would be Starfield, and when I got bored after a couple hours there was no pressure to “get my money’s worth”. I simply uninstalled and moved on.
I realize game pass prices are going up and this deal won’t be available forever, but this is my 2nd time around already so the last several years of console gaming have been cheap as shit.
That’s my outlook on gamepass. I hardly ever use a console, own 3 xbocs and only know where 1 is and that’s sitting in the corner of my living room unplugged for at least 2 years. I get gamepass ultimate a couple times a year for a game or 2 and play for a few weeks then cancel it and move on.
Next week: Microsoft acquires Unity
So what your saying is games and consoles could have been cheaper this whole time?
That cost will be passed on to the studios
Who’ll pass it on us.
You see, making games is so expensive nowadays. So, now the starting price will be $80 and there will be a convenience fee for every install. No, it doesn’t matter that the game doesn’t use Unity, we will charge it anyways, just in case.
Isn’t the new model based partly on game and/or studio revenue? Sounds really scummy if you put it that way: Unity announces new pricing structure -> costs for devs rise -> they increase game prices -> now they reach the revenue threshold quicker and more often -> costs for devs rise…