Unity says its controversial term Fee and is returning to a more traditional subscription model for its popular video game engine used by small and large developers around the world. However, the prices of some subscriptions will increase next year.
A year ago, in September 2023, Unity announced a fundamental change in the fees developers must pay to use its engine. Once a game has been downloaded a certain number of times and has grossed a certain amount of money, Unity will charge developers a runtime fee every time someone installs a game developed with Unity, such as Pokémon GO or Cuphead. Many smaller developers and developers criticized the decision, claiming it would lead to developers abandoning the engine to avoid paying thousands of dollars in installation fees. This could have led to game delays, and there were even fears that some developers might pull older games from sale to prevent players from reinstalling them to avoid the runtime fees.
It was all a huge mess This eventually led to Unity partially reverses some of these decisions a week laterIt also led to Unity’s CEO retires And another manager resignsAnd now, after all thatThe company completely waives the installation fees.
On Thursday, in a Blog post on the Unity websiteCEO Matthew Bromberg announced the news that the company was removing all runtime fees from the engine “effective immediately.”
“I’ve been able to engage with many of you over the last three months and have heard time and time again that you want a strong unit and understand that price increases are a necessary part of what allows us to invest in the continued development of gaming. But those increases don’t have to come in a novel and controversial new form,” Bromberg said.
Unity announces price increases for some plans
This will eliminate runtime fees and Unity will return to a subscription model. Bromberg confirmed that Unity Personal licenses will remain free until a game generates over $200,000 in revenue or funding. Starting in January 2025, Unity Pro subscriptions will increase by 8%, costing $2,200 per year. Unity Enterprise will also see a 25% price increase.
Unity Personal will remain free, with the revenue and funding cap raised from $100,000 to $200,000, giving developers more flexibility before they’re hit with Unity fees. The “Made with Unity” splash screen will be optional for games developed with Unity 6, which is set to launch later this year.
Starting January 1, 2025, Unity Pro will see an 8% price increase, bringing the annual subscription fee to $2,200 per seat. Unity Enterprise will see a 25% increase, with new minimum subscription requirements for customers with annual revenues over $25 million. These changes will apply to all new and existing subscriptions starting on that date. (Because these licenses are large enterprise, pricing may vary by package.)
Bromberg stressed in his blog post that Unity will continue to raise prices if necessary, but will only do so annually through increasing subscription fees. Unity will not try to squeeze a few cents out of every developer who uses the engine based on how often people install their game.
“By eliminating the game runtime fee and implementing these pricing changes, we can continue to invest in improving game development for everyone while being better partners,” Bromberg said.
“Thank you for your trust and continued support. We look forward to making great games together for many more years to come.”
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