Unity, maker of one of the industry’s most widely used video game engines, revealed in a blog post the terms of the company’s new fee policy, the first version of which caused shock among independent studios.
I want to start with this: I’m sorry.
“We should have spoken to more of you and incorporated more of your feedback before announcing our new fulfillment fee policy,” admits Unity Create director Marc Whitten, but points out that he knows the company has to work hard to get back on your feet [leur] Trust.
The new terms include the elimination of fees for members of the Unity Personal service, a formula intended for small players. The company adds that no game has 12-month sales of less than $1 million [1,4 million $ CA] no fee is charged.
For Pro and Enterprise members whose income is higher, the policy will not come into effect until the next version of the game engine is available, which according to the blog post is somewhere in 2024 or even beyond.
Your currently shipping games and projects you’re currently working on won’t be included – unless you choose to update to this new version of Unity.
Finally, Unity Studios, whose games are eligible, offers the choice of a 2.5% revenue share or an amount calculated based on the number of new people engaging with the game each month.
Both numbers are based on your own information and based on data you already have. You will always be charged the lowest amount, says Unity, which remains unclear about the type of data used to calculate fees.
The company wanted to charge a fee of US$0.20 (CAD$0.27) for each installation of a game built on its engine starting January 1, 2024, with several restrictions in place.
This change, announced to the video game industry in a blog post on September 12, has been received “unanimously negatively” by independent studios in Quebec, according to Christopher Chancey, president of the Quebec Video Game Guild.
A number of developers – including Innersloth (Among Us) and Massive Monster (Cult of the Lamb) – subsequently criticized Unity’s approach on X (formerly Twitter) while simultaneously announcing their intention to change the game engine to accommodate their activities to continue.
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After several clarifications of its policy to address industry concerns, Unity apologized for the first time on September 17 and announced that it would go back to the drawing board. The company then stated that it planned to announce the new details of its payment policy in a few days.
Breathe a sigh of relief in Quebec
According to its president Christopher Chancey, the Quebec Video Game Guild is still analyzing Unity’s new data. However, as President and General Manager of the ManaVoid Entertainment studio, he wanted to respond: We are pleased that Unity changed course last week on many of the points to be worked on in their business model proposal.
If this model had been proposed last week, dissatisfaction would probably have been significantly lower.
He particularly welcomes the fact that the changes will not affect projects currently in development, a relief for his studio, which will release Roots of Yggdrasil, developed with Unity, later this year.
However, he notes that the administrative burden of collecting the data to be provided to Unity each month still falls on the shoulders of developers.
The lack of exceptions for mobile games is also highlighted: free games (free-to-play, F2P) exceed the million downloads mark more quickly.
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Christopher Chancey is also co-founder of Indie Asylum, which brings together several independent studios in Montreal.
Photo: Christopher Chancey
The director of ManaVoid Entertainment also points out the ongoing confusion over who has to pay the fees for revenue or downloads of a game offered with a subscription service.
Unity had previously argued that these fees would be the responsibility of service providers such as Nintendo, PlayStation or Xbox, but did not address this aspect in its blog post.
Too late for Unity?
Unity isn’t the first misstep in communications, according to Christopher Chancey, who says he’s hearing around studios no longer trusting the company.
There’s nothing that says they can’t change or revise these numbers or policies upward at any time. It’s stressful for developers who intend to continue using their engine, he says.
Many people I know plan to finish their current games with Unity, but intend to explore new options in the future.
While he’s excited about Unity’s announcement today, he’s no less disappointed that there’s no game engine left that isn’t involved in the projects, which has made it easier for studios to put together their financial package. who only had to rely on their own success.