Unity introduces changes to their business model which would heavily affect game developers using their engine. Read on to learn more about the details of the new changes and why it's causing a commotion in the community.
Unity Introduces New Business Model
Unity Runtime Fee
Unity made an announcement on September 13 about changes to their business model, primarily about their approach to subscriptions and a newly introduced “Runtime Fee” which will take effect on January 1, 2024. To put it plainly, the Runtime Fee is a flat fee to be paid by the developer for every install of the games built on the Unity Engine.
They further lay out the qualifying criteria on their blog post for the Runtime Fee which is based on these thresholds:
● Unity Personal and Unity Plus: Those that have made $200,000 USD or more in the last 12 months AND have at least 200,000 lifetime game installs.
● Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise: Those that have made $1,000,000 USD or more in the last 12 months AND have at least 1,000,000 lifetime game installs.
Game must meet both revenue AND install thresholds for the fee to apply. |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unity Personal and Unity Plus | Unity Pro | Unity Enterprise | |
| Revenue Threshold (last 12 months) | $200,000 (USD) | $1,000,000 (USD) | $1,000,000 (USD) |
| Install Threshold (lifetime) | 200,000 | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 |
The fee will vary depending on a number of factors, one of which being the subscription used by the developer in conjunction with the threshold of installs.
For example, if a developer’s game has reached both thresholds using a Unity Pro license, they will be charged $0.15 per new install instead of the standard $0.20 on the Unity Personal or Plus plan.
| Unity Personal and Unity Plus | Unity Pro | Unity Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|
| New installs per month | Standard rate(if thresholds are met) | ||
| 1-100,000 | $0.20 per new install | $0.15 per new install | $0.125 per new install |
| 100,001-500,000 | $0.075 per new install | $0.06 per new install | |
| 500,001-1,000,000 | $0.03 per new install | $0.02 per new install | |
| 1,000,001+ | $0.02 per new install | $0.01 per new install | |
| New installs per month | Emerging market rate (if thresholds are met) | ||
| 1+ | $0.02 per new install | $0.01 per new install | $0.005 per new install |
Reactions and Backlash
The news was met with immediate backlash and criticisms, decrying the decision. AggroCrab Games, makers of indie roguelike Going Under, was the first to make a tweet on Twitter (X), expressing their discontent with the new model.
They asked Unity to rollback these changes as these will affect their company negatively, especially since they are planning to release Another Crab’s Adventure on multiple platforms (ie. Steam, XBOX Game Pass, etc.), The game is sure to pile up downloads and fees quickly, with the amount of users using the platform.
Similarly, Innersloth, the makers of Among Us, and Massive Monster, the makers of Cult of the Lamb, also tweeted about their frustration and the effect of this new model on the gaming community as a whole. They stated that this decision will potentially delay features the gamers want as several developers will want to port their games to a different game engine like Unreal or Godot.
Unity’s CEO, John Riccitiello, was already suffering from backlash for his statements made back in 2022. He described developers that do not include monetization in the creative process as “some of the biggest f****** idiots.” That coupled with the layoffs made in May 2023 has strained the relationship between the company and its developers. With this announcement, they are sure to continue to lose faith and trust in the platform.
Clarifications Made by Unity
Unity clarified earlier today that the price increase will only target 10% of their existing customers and that the payment is not retroactive or perpetual.
They have also made it clear that there will only be a low (or no) one-time fee for creators who have yet to reach the threshold of installs and revenue and a modest one-time fee for those who have met the threshold of new installs after January 1, 2024.
On the topic of installations, they have clarified that the runtime fee will not be paid by the developers on the following:
● Re-installations
● Fraudulent installations
● Pirated installations
● Trials and Playable Demos
● Web and Streaming Games
● Charity-related installations
They also clarified that Early Access games will pay the fee as well as they are not considered demos. Installation of games on subscriptions like Game Pass will burden not the developers but the distributors of the subscriptions instead.
Implications of the New Business Model
According to Unity’s blog post and their tweet, the Runtime fee will only kick in after January 1, 2024.
Additionally, the fee will only be incurred on net new installs after both the revenue and install threshold has been reached, which means that the previous 200,000 installs (on Unity Personal and Pro) will not be counted and will only count the 200,001st install for the fee.
Games that rely on microtransactions and freemium model games will particularly be adversely affected, as they may be barely reaching the threshold of revenue through microtransactions but will still have their installation numbers skyrocket.
The model certainly pushes the makers of these games to go for the more premium Unity subscription plans as they would end up paying a smaller fee per new install as well as having a higher threshold for both revenue and installs.
Sources:
Blog - Unity Plan and Pricing Updates
FAQ - Unity Plan and Pricing Updates
Unity CEO Statement
Unity Layoffs May 2023
Twitter - Unity Announcement on Runtime Fees
Twitter - Unity Clarifications on Runtime Fees
