My Thoughts on Unity's Pricing Changes

Unity's new Unite Runtime Fee has caused quite a stir in the game development community. In this video I explain what those changes are, how people are reacting to them, and give my own thoughts on them.
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[@Crisisdarkness]

In the end this makes me happy since more people are going to move to other engines

[@CodeWithTom]

I definitely think we'll see an increase in uptake of other engines as a result of this change. I wouldn't say this necessarily makes me happy though. A lot of people depend on Unity for their business and this will have huge financial impacts on them. Some of them simply won't be able to cut their losses and transition to Godot for example.

[@Crisisdarkness]

@@CodeWithTom It is true, you are absolutely right, it was a very bad action on Unity's part to change those rules, there are several developers who will have to continue being in Unity and accept these changes, in that sense I feel bad for those people, I hope that despite all that, those developers can continue growing

[@mattiasimbola]

There is no way to detect true install from malicious install, once your runtime is out, you are on the hook for limitless fees from unity.

[@Mintarcade]

Everyone is actually affected by the change: Big studios now will pay more, Unity Plus users are force to display "Made with Unity" splash screen, small developers will now have incentive to sell less copies or increase price or rethink their business model all together, mobile development will struggle to survive because of their dependance on the install base and so on... I'm afraid this is a snow ball effect in progress. I do share your sentiment as a Unity developer myself with many years of using the engine and huge amount of money "invested" in asset store, but it will negatively impact my current business model, my clients and ongoing long term projects... Very sad times.

[@talismanskulls2857]

Only where unity is concerned. The corporate goons have been wanting to destroy another industry but this time its going to hurt them because there are a lot more alternatives.

[@anaconda2608]

True we should not bash developers of unity the ceo decide it not the employee

[@CodeWithTom]

Absolutely right!

[@RamonChiNangWong078]

This what happened when you let an EA hand rubber as a CEO comes in

[@anaconda2608]

I can give this guarentee , that if one more recession came in future , unreal also going to charge from user more. 😢

[@CodeWithTom]

Let's hope Epic Games are paying attention to what's happening here and don't go down the same path.

[@morgierwin6641]

Charge more perhaps, but Unity is not just charging more, they are doing something much much worse.

[@VALLANCEGAMING]

If they can track sales then they should charge per sale

[@GorblinRat]

Honestly I'll never use anything non open source again.

[@mission-toast]

YES! I feel fortunate that I chose the right game engine for me in GODOT, but it wasn't necessarily for pricing, access to the source code, etc. The companies that own the proprietary game engines you rely on own you.

[@johnsartain4160]

Im trying to use godot but its too hard, ill just have to finish my game in unity

[@CodeWithTom]

Give my latest video a watch, it may help you transition over!

[@KrunchyJD]

The thing is though, that even if you are not directly impacted by the change, you kind of are still impacted, because it represents a bad attitude towards users of Unity. It shows that the Unity Execs are unethical, and also as there will be a mass exodus from the engine the community will dry up, so there will be less help available from fewer community members. Also if you create assets for the engine there will be less buyers or users of those assets. Also we now cannot trust the Unity Execs to be ethical in future and NEW fees can be suddenly announced at any time. It also stifles any thinking that one day your game could get somewhere. It is bad news for everyone. The CEO needs to resign and half the board, for any faith in Unity to be restored...

[@sparklee82]

Yup my pc cant handle unreal too good and since this stupidity of unity im switching to godot. Godot 4 has nice graphics afterall

[@anaconda2608]

Just the support is lacking for godot , hope now they will get more attention and development fund...

[@sparklee82]

@@anaconda2608 yea sometimes im shocked how the file size is only 60-70 mb

[@CodeWithTom]

Godot is a fantastic engine, you'll enjoy it!

[@aceofswords1725]

@@anaconda2608 If my game starts making money I'll definitely chip in a percentage to Godot.

[@carljthatsme94]

As an engine, Unity is awesome. Great 3D capabilities and probably the best for 2D. I would still recommend it for those wanting to learn game dev, as well as UE5. Both are great, learning C# and C++ are wonderful tools. As far as earning money though, Unity are no longer trustworthy to be partners.

[@morgierwin6641]

why would you waste time learning an engine you can't make money with, when you could be learning an engine that you can make money with?

[@ShinSpiegel]

@@morgierwin6641 there is the UE for this. If you want to have all the money there is a bunch of open source projects. Just pick one and have fun. Unity broken trust, there is no way back now.

[@carljthatsme94]

@@morgierwin6641 Because making money is something that comes way later down the line. There's a lot to learn and Unity has some incredible tools in the engine and an uncountable amount of tutorials to make you a stronger developer. It's also (probably) the best 2D engine out there. C# is also a major coding language to know. If you're thinking about making money as soon as you make start making games, you may want to rethink your approach

[@user-tx7ct1fg2i]

За забагованый движок ещё и платить😂.прощай юнити,я не сильно буду скучать по тебе.godot рулит!!!

[@__Rizzler__]

bro who let unity cook?

[@CodeWithTom]

🤷‍♂

[@talismanskulls2857]

Then here is the work around till they knock it off. Make the games browser based so end users are not required to download anything to play such games. The Executives need to be fired. Otherwise I suggest employees collab in creating a rival purely OpenSource community supported independent Engine making actual improvements where the Executives have been preventing or dropping the ball focusing too much on bells and whistles and lining their pockets at the sacrifice of the engine.

[@CodeWithTom]

Unfortunately they stated browser based games would count as an install when they're loaded.

[@talismanskulls2857]

@@CodeWithTom Yeah I saw that after the statement. The corporate goons need to be fired and the company needs to get off the NYS. The employees should all walk out and either take the company back or coop to create its replacement. Otherwise they "haven't" done everything they can to fight this.

[@ShinSpiegel]

I couldn’t disagree more with you. This whole sh$&storm is enogastronomia reason to leave. With this type os leadership, tomorrow unity will change the pricing again, and again, update the value to 40 cents, remove more features under the “extra plus” subscription model, and you can go on and on. Unity isn’t the only one in the market and devs should abandon this engine if possible.

[@CodeWithTom]

I hope for the sakes of the thousands of developers and studios whose income rely on Unity that the pricing situation will resolve and leadership will think twice about making a sweeping change like this again in the future. It isn't guaranteed though. For those who are looking to switch, I have a video for transitioning to Godot 4.

[@gofudgeyourselves9024]

Gal godot