My Connection to Unity

I was first introduced to programming when I joined the video game development club in my high school. During club activities we used Unity to create small scale games. This experience grew my passion for software development and creating games. Additionally, playing video games is one of my hobbies some of which use Unity for its game engine (Cult of the Lamb, Hollow Knight: Silksong, etc.).

Unity Runtime Fee Announcement

In September 2023, Unity announced the addition of a Runtime Fee to its pricing model. This fee would be applied when a Unity game is installed and be covered by the developer.

(Kronis, 2023)

Reactions from Developers and Industry Professionals

“Buy Cult of the Lamb now, cause we’re deleting it on Jan 1st”

Massive Monster, Developer (Skuse, 2023)

"In reality, Unity's tools just aren't unique enough for me to justify the financial burden of this change"

Grace Bruxner, Video Game Designer (Ryan, 2023)

Reactions from Developers and Industry Professionals

“The retroactive pricing structure of Runtime Fees is not only harmful in a myriad of ways to developers — especially indies — it is also a violation of trust.”

Mega Crit, Developer of Slay the Spire (Skuse, 2023)

"How is Unity finding out what we're playing & what we're installing in order to charge the creators of our games 20 cents?"

Brendan Keogh, Queensland University of Technology (Ryan, 2023)

Community Backlash - Installation Reporting

A major concern is the methodology behind installation reporting. Initially, the public believed that the runtime fee could be applied multiple times if the same user repeatedly installed the game (Skuse, 2023). This raised the concern that one could abuse this fee ultimately harming the developer (Ryan, 2023). Although the announcement was later amended, it subsequently caused concerns over privacy due to Unity’s lack of transparency over how installations and users would be tracked (Ryan, 2023). Ultimately, this led to an increased negative sentiment and fear of the financial impact the runtime fee could cause.

Community Backlash - Loss of Trust

Developers make a large commitment when choosing an engine. Introducing unpredictable costs and retroactive fees can break the trust developers have in that commitment. Kronis (2023) states that game code is deeply connected to the game engine thus, changing engines can be equivalent to discarding the entire project. According to Ryan (2024), the unpredictable costs and retroactive fees has caused developers to feel like their “house is on fire” as they attempt to handle the financial strain. Furthermore, developers have begun switching game engines for new projects despite increasing development timelines to adjust to the new engine (Ryan, 2023). Hence, developers are seeking out alternatives to Unity as developers feel that Unity is no longer reliable.