Industry Unity Fees Backlash

[Raine]

Grain of salt, but I can easily believe it:

Unity Software (U) - Total debt

Current and historical total debt on balance sheet for Unity Software

companiesmarketcap.com

More calls to action:




Couple days old, but, non-Unity devs with deep(er) pockets making pledges:




And another podcast that has Rami on it, though I have yet to watch it:

 

[Rachel]

I'll comment later but wanted to put in here Unity's response:

An open letter to our community

An open letter from Marc Whitten to the Unity community in September 2023.

blog.unity.com

To our community:

I'm Marc Whitten, and I lead Unity Create which includes the Unity engine and editor teams.

I want to start with this: I am sorry.

We should have spoken with more of you and we should have incorporated more of your feedback before announcing our new Runtime Fee policy. Our goal with this policy is to ensure we can continue to support you today and tomorrow, and keep deeply investing in our game engine.

You are what makes Unity great, and we know we need to listen, and work hard to earn your trust. We have heard your concerns, and we are making changes in the policy we announced to address them.

Our Unity Personal plan will remain free and there will be no Runtime Fee for games built on Unity Personal. We will be increasing the cap from $100,000 to $200,000 and we will remove the requirement to use the Made with Unity splash screen.

No game with less than $1 million in trailing 12-month revenue will be subject to the fee.

For those creators on Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise, we are also making changes based on your feedback.

The Runtime Fee policy will only apply beginning with the next LTS version of Unity shipping in 2024 and beyond. Your games that are currently shipped and the projects you are currently working on will not be included – unless you choose to upgrade them to this new version of Unity.

We will make sure that you can stay on the terms applicable for the version of Unity editor you are using – as long as you keep using that version.

For games that are subject to the runtime fee, we are giving you a choice of either a 2.5% revenue share or the calculated amount based on the number of new people engaging with your game each month. Both of these numbers are self-reported from data you already have available. You will always be billed the lesser amount.

We want to continue to build the best engine for creators. We truly love this industry and you are the reason why.

I'd like to invite you to join me for a live fireside chat hosted by Jason Weimann today at 4:00 pm ET/1:00 pm PT, where I will do my best to answer your questions. In the meantime, here are some more details.*

Thank you for caring as deeply as you do, and thank you for giving us hard feedback.

Marc Whitten

 

[Raine]

Sounds like devs aren't being threatened with a good time at gunpoint for the moment, then. If I were in the dev's shoes, this is very simple math:

A) If game can be shipped before Jan 1, ship it. All future games aren't using Unity.
B) If game can't be shipped before Jan 1, delay/cancel.

2.5% revenue share and saying the numbers are self-reported are just pure last-ditch desperation, if you ask me.

We will make sure that you can stay on the terms applicable for the version of Unity editor you are using

You broke this promise already. Where's the guarantee? Need something legally binding, not the company's word or a ToS entry that means nothing.

 

[Disgustipated]

Sounds like devs aren't being threatened with a good time at gunpoint for the moment, then. If I were in the dev's shoes, this is very simple math:

A) If game can be shipped before Jan 1, ship it. All future games aren't using Unity.
B) If game can't be shipped before Jan 1, delay/cancel.

No reason to delay or cancel any game. The new terms only apply if you upgrade to the 2024 release of an LTS version.

Definitely would switch off for all future projects though. They tried this shit once who is to say they won’t again? A year from now? 2? 3? Especially since they tried to retroactively change the TOS in 2019 and the walk back for that was to put the TOS on GitHub which they deleted before this debacle? Who could possibly trust them?

 

[Raine]

No reason to delay or cancel any game. The new terms only apply if you upgrade to the 2024 release of an LTS version.

I assume it would depend on a couple of factors, but I'm thinking mostly from a future ports perspective. Not sure how, say, trying to create a Switch port would factor in - but I would default to expecting to being strong-armed into using/adopting the latest version while doing that. Particularly with the next-gen Nintendo console on the horizon.

Granted Jan 1 isn't that far away, so a game could be pretty close to being finished but just not quite be there yet. Still... hedging bets seems the most practical course of action. 'Cause, yeah, to hell with trusting this company.

 

[Raine]

There aren't clownshoes big enough in the entire universe for this shit. Emphasis is theirs.

The recent post states... "We will make sure that you can stay on the terms applicable for the version of Unity editor you are using – as long as you keep using that version." How is this going to be enshrined into future ToS so that, it too, can't be retroactively changed? I think a lot of trust needs to be regained, and a lot of people are still worried that there could be large changes out of the blue. How will this be enforced? No one wants to work on a game for 2 or 3 years and all of a sudden have new fees pop up because ToS were again changed. People were saying that old ToS was removed from Git and replaced, How are we going to have guarantees moving forward that people can lock in agreements based on the version they are using? Thank you.

I totally hear your frustration!
Just to echo what Marc said, we are so sorry for our earlier actions.

Genuinely disappointed at how our removal of the ToS has been framed across the internet. We removed it way before the pricing change was announced because the views were so low, not because we didn't want people to see it.

And we have heard the concerns from the community about ToS loud and clear. This new Runtime Fee policy will only apply beginning with the next LTS version of Unity shipping in 2024 and beyond. And Marc's response is true, you can stay on the terms applicable for the version of Unity you are using as long as you keep using that version.

We do have a fireside chat ongoing with Marc where he will answer some Q's live, if you aren't happy with my answer, we welcome your attendance and questions v=qyLcI5O9iUY

 

[shortkut]

There aren't clownshoes big enough in the entire universe for this shit. Emphasis is theirs.

Trust us, I swear we won’t do it again

 

[Rachel]

looooool A FIRESIDE CHAT

LET'S GET ROOSEVELT WITH THIS SHIT

 

[TD]

Unity.. geez.
I hope these developers have a way to just go away from them period.

What a shady bunch of assholes.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Sees title.

Wonders if Unity went public recently. Sees that they did in 2020. Close enough.

Wonders why stupid shut like this and the Reddit thing ALWAYS seems to happen when a company goes public. I don't understand the constant need to make unnecessary changes to please the shareholders who obviously know nothing about what they've invested in. Unnecessary changes that ALWAYS backfire.

Also, Unity let go 600 employees in May. I wonder if that was a "we need to show our shareholders that we're interested in shedding costs as much as possible" thing or a "fuck, we're bleeding money" thing.

Makes me glad that companies like Culver's are still private, because I know the second they go public, some jackasses are going to ruin the whole thing in the name of $$$$$$$.

 

[Raine]

Wonders why stupid shut like this and the Reddit thing ALWAYS seems to happen when a company goes public. I don't understand the constant need to make unnecessary changes to please the shareholders who obviously know nothing about what they've invested in. Unnecessary changes that ALWAYS backfire.

The higher end of the owner class is pretty universally fucking stupid, and the need for shareholders to be constantly "pleased" means a constant need to expand in order to post sizeable profit increases year-over-year in perpetuity. Infinite growth literally (and very obviously) isn't possible, but that's the model everyone chases.

Privately owned companies aren't necessarily great/better either, especially if/when they gear up to go public, but that's probably the only kind of place you'll find where consistent, steady revenue is actually appreciated.

 

[Kat]

Sees title.

Wonders if Unity went public recently. Sees that they did in 2020. Close enough.

Wonders why stupid shut like this and the Reddit thing ALWAYS seems to happen when a company goes public. I don't understand the constant need to make unnecessary changes to please the shareholders who obviously know nothing about what they've invested in. Unnecessary changes that ALWAYS backfire.

Also, Unity let go 600 employees in May. I wonder if that was a "we need to show our shareholders that we're interested in shedding costs as much as possible" thing or a "fuck, we're bleeding money" thing.

Makes me glad that companies like Culver's are still private, because I know the second they go public, some jackasses are going to ruin the whole thing in the name of $$$$$$$.

I worked for a large, employee-owned company that went public while I was working for them. The culture and priorities shifted overnight. It made me sad, as I really liked the place when I started, but I eventually ended up leaving because of it. They probably do perform better financially now, but IMO it wasn't worth the cost.

 

[VashTheStampede]

UPDATE

 

[Raine]

Sort of shocked, which is sad. But good that the barest of minimums will have been done. He's definitely not the only person responsible and who needs to go though; ostensibly the entire board would also need ousting to begin to repair things with most indie studios.

 

[Kat]

"Stepping down" and not "fired for massively fucking up". You know if some low level employee had managed to piss off that many people, they wouldn't hesitate to throw them under the bus.

How big is his severance check, you think?

 

[Raine]

Oh he's got a golden parachute all set, I'm sure. Probably already has a couple of offers for his next obscenely overpaying CEO gig too. I'd be shocked if dudebro is walking with less than 8 figures in different forms. Stock price is still down 34% over the last year, but sitting just under $30 a share.

Meanwhile, on the ground floor...