In a not-so-surprising turn of events, Unity has pivoted (well, more like half-pivoted) on its controversial plans to make changes to its policies charging developers each time their game is installed. This decision had initially been met with an outpouring of criticism and backlash from developers and gamers alike.
The crux of the issue revolved around Unity's proposed plan to begin charging developers once their games exceeded a set threshold of installations. Specifically, Unity Personal and Plus subscribers were to be charged $0.20 per install once they surpassed 200,000 installs and a $200,000 lifetime revenue. Unity Pro and Enterprise subscribers would then face a reduced fee of $0.01 per install if their lifetime installs were more than a million and had revenue exceeding $1 million in the previous year.
With such looming financial implications, developers were up in arms, not only over the proposed fees but more so due to Unity's decision to retroactively apply this to agreements made when they first began using the engine. In the wake of the uproar, Unity tried to provide some clarity, ensuring that most charity games, demos, and reinstallations wouldn't incur these fees and that only about 10% of its customers would be affected. But this clarification did little to quell the rising tides of discontent.
The change wasn't only a financial consideration for developers; it had a deeper implication for the structure of video game distributions, such as bundles, giveaways, and subscription services like Game Pass. Such services may push the cost back onto developers. Unity's decision was seen as a roadblock, particularly as it was to be applied to games already in distribution once the new policy kicked in on January 1, 2024.