Leak Implies Concerns About Unity Runtime Fee Policy Might Be Addressed
Unity, a software development company, recently announced plans to charge developers every time a game that uses its Unity engine is installed, starting in January 2024. The proposed Unity Runtime Fee would apply to games that meet a minimum revenue threshold and have passed a minimum lifetime install count. However, following a huge backlash from game developers, Unity issued an apology and said it planned to make changes to the policy, which it would communicate in the coming days.
According to Bloomberg, Unity staff were informed of tentative changes to the Unity Runtime Fee during an all-hands meeting on Monday. The changes include limiting fees to 4% of a game’s revenue over $1 million, not making installations counted toward reaching the threshold retroactive, and no longer tracking installations by proprietary tools. Instead, Unity will rely on users to self-report the data. During the meeting, Unity CEO John Riccitiello claimed that the proposed fee is a massively transformational change to their business model, and he acknowledged that they could have done a lot of things better. He also mentioned that he doesn’t think there’s any version of this that would have gone down a whole lot differently than what happened. Last week, Unity closed two offices and cancelled a planned town hall meeting following what was apparently a credible death threat.Â