Unity apologizes and goes back to the drawing board with its ill-conceived runtime fee

[Cal Jeffrey]

Recap: If you have followed the recent Unity drama, you know it has been a public relations nightmare from day one. Unity springs an ill-planned, unexpected, and poorly explained fee on developers. Developers fly into an outrage. Unity tries to clarify but confuses the community even more. More backlash – and that was all within a few days last week.

Over the weekend, Unity apologized to developers for its poor communication of the runtime fee and promised to rework it with feedback from the community.

"We have heard you. We apologize for the confusion and angst the runtime fee policy we announced on Tuesday caused," the company said via X (formerly Twitter). "We are listening, talking to our team members, community, customers, and partners, and will be making changes to the policy."

The post did not mention specifics but did say that Unity would have more information "in a couple of days."

yall not going to get off this like some bullshit video game apology with weak willed gamer nerds

people need to build a future with a design engine and the trust is already broken

no one going to build a castle on sand after your bullshit

– Zack (@Asmongold) September 18, 2023

Unfortunately, tempers are still high, and judging by the response to the tweet, many have little confidence that Unity will provide a better solution. Most commenters think its post is just the PR department running damage control while the rule makers find a way to reword the plan to make it go down easier.

What I also dislike also about this @unity debacle.

I already committed to their engine for my new game. Put years and years of work into my pipeline. I did so under a simple per seat license I am happy to pay.

Now while I am close to release they spring something new on me....

– Tomas Sala falconeerdev.bsky.social (@FalconeerDev) September 12, 2023

Twitch streamer Cohh Carnage said, "We have heard you. We have not listened to you. Here is a bunch of marketing talk to make you think we're doing something when in actuality we're just figuring out how to keep doing what we've already decided to do. Thanks for your honest and critical feedback. What? Seriously."

Others argued that executives, including CEO John Riccitiello, dumped tens of thousands of shares before the announcement as proof that Unity execs knew their monetization change was terrible. They suggest their determination to plow forward anyway indicates that the game engine developer is committed to the runtime fee come hell or high water. It must be mentioned that there is no evidence that the stock trades were illegal and no employees stand officially accused of insider trading.

Gaming browser Opera GX tried to lighten the mood with the Frog of Shame:

pic.twitter.com/FDoFZRrnez

– Opera GX (@operagxofficial) September 18, 2023

As of publication, the score is Frog: 30,850 and Unity: 16,616. Opera added that it will keep posting the Frog of Shame until Unity reverses the policy. Many others are calling for a complete rollback as well. There's even talk of a lawsuit.

Axios notes that indie studio Strange Scaffold, the maker of Stranger Things VR, is considering initiating a class action lawsuit against Unity. The developer's founder and creative director, Xalavier Nelson Jr., said he has talked with "some of the most significant" Unity game developers about taking legal action.

Image credit: Peq42

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https://www.techspot.com/news/100186-unity-apologizes-goes-back-drawing-board-ill-conceived.html

 

[m4a4]

Yeah, until something more concrete happens, this was just a hollow PR response to the nosedive they were seeing.

But man, they should've backtracked and said this much sooner. How long it took to say "sorry you feel we were wrong, we're reviewing our options" doesn't help the situation at all.

 

[Cal Jeffrey]

Yeah, until something more concrete happens, this was just a hollow PR response to the nosedive they were seeing.

But man, they should've backtracked and said this much sooner. How long it took to say "sorry you feel we were wrong, we're reviewing our options" doesn't help the situation at all.

Changing their FAQ to imply that platforms like Steam and the console stores would be charged the fee too was just stupid. I don't know who thought, "You know what? So many devs hate this idea maybe we could include digitals stores in the plan." But they should be fired.

 

[Dimitriid]

"Back to the drawing board" really sounds like "We just need for this to die down until we find a sneaky way to try again"

There's never even a thought about just saying 'Ok we were wrong we won't plan to do this' is always 'We need to communicate better' or 'We need to better address the needs of our customers' but never 'We will just leave you alone' because well, that's never an option for these *!@#()!

 

[m4a4]

Changing their FAQ to imply that platforms like Steam and the console stores would be charged the fee too was just stupid. I don't know who thought, "You know what? So many devs hate this idea maybe we could include digitals stores in the plan." But they should be fired.

I'd say all of upper management who green-lit/allowed the install fee (especially those that doubled down) should get fired.

That would definitely help build a bit of trust back, but I feel like that's just wishful thinking at this point.

 

[Cal Jeffrey]

I'd say all of upper management who green-lit/allowed the install fee (especially those that doubled down) should get fired.

That would definitely help build a bit of trust back, but I feel like that's just wishful thinking at this point.

Isn't John Riccitiello like one of the most hated execs in gaming? He used to head EA.

 

[yRaz]

Implementing an install fee when no physical product is available should be illegal. Also, incrementally changing their Terms of Service over the years to include people who updated their products to newer versions is offensive. For many web-based games, every time they load the game they have to reinstall the runtime. What's worse is that these devs were ALREADY PAYING for the right to use the unity engine. Now Unity is saying "that doesn't matter, where going to start charging you per-install even though you invested 10 years in learning our engine, developing for it and paying for it." They way their ToS is written is that they can start charge games per-install even if you don't use the latest version of their engine. I think one dev said that latest version that isn't applicable to the new TOS is the 2019 LTS(Long term support) version.

 

[Shaitan]

Just fire that guy who asked us to pay 1 USD for reloading in Battlefield. John Riccitiello and Bobby Kotick should die in the eternal fire of Hell for destroying gaming.

 

[m4a4]

Isn't John Riccitiello like one of the most hated execs in gaming? He used to head EA.

I mean, he might have the final say as CEO of Unity, but I don't think it would've gone this far without some help from their board and other executives.

I saw a thread where people actually think certain board members would be behind such a braindead decision, and it seems likely considering...

 

[winjer]

Crocodile tears

 

[Cal Jeffrey]

I mean, he might have the final say as CEO of Unity, but I don't think it would've gone this far without some help from their board and other executives.

I saw a thread where people actually think certain board members would be behind such a braindead decision, and it seems likely considering...

Almost every decision that centers on money, including rushing games out before they are ready and hair-brained monetization schemes like NFTs, are driven by the board of directors and investors that have no clue about the industry, and that goes for non-gaming sectors too.

 

[m4a4]

Almost every decision that centers on money, including rushing games out before they are ready and hair-brained monetization schemes like NFTs, are driven by the board of directors and investors that have no clue about the industry, and that goes for non-gaming sectors too.

Yup. Public companies only seem to care about money. And there were already warnings in 2019 when they last tried to pull something braindead.

Which is where firing those responsible in upper management is just wishful thinking at this point.

 

[bexwhitt]

Unity needs to stop haemorrhaging money, that's a fact. The way they thought to do this is in no way the answer. Unreal take a 5% cut over one million revenue which I personally think is a bit steep but they were upfront on that way back. A revenue cut would be less decisive as that's more black and white than 20C for every install.

 

[Gastec]

Implementing an install fee when no physical product is available should be illegal. Also, incrementally changing their Terms of Service over the years to include people who updated their products to newer versions is offensive. For many web-based games, every time they load the game they have to reinstall the runtime. What's worse is that these devs were ALREADY PAYING for the right to use the unity engine. Now Unity is saying "that doesn't matter, where going to start charging you per-install even though you invested 10 years in learning our engine, developing for it and paying for it." They way their ToS is written is that they can start charge games per-install even if you don't use the latest version of their engine. I think one dev said that latest version that isn't applicable to the new TOS is the 2019 LTS(Long term support) version.

Nothing is random or a coincidence in this shenanigan coming from Unity Technologies and I think it is connected to the advancements in machine learning, generating AI, LLM's and all the other such tools that fall under the umbrella term "AI". Think of bots "installing" thousands upon thousands of copies of video games (or not the entire game but just Unity Runtime and a file list of Unity games to be "installed"): a steady supply of free money

Here, have a look at madness (WARNING, it's catchy !) : https://unity.com/runtime-fee

"When a Unity game or app is downloaded, the Unity Runtime is also installed. The Unity Runtime is code that makes the project work performantly, at scale, across dozens of Unity-supported platforms." Who even wrote these technical and gramatical abominations?

 

[RudyBob]

Apologize....That's what should have been done by a few other companies that made major boo boo's but...kudos to whoever for at least appearing to try for now

 

[toooooot]

I can understand a company's need of generating income. I can understand them wishing to earn a bit more.
But to try getting so much in such redicilously near criminal way looks nothing less than stupid.
it is like if a store owner started aiming a gun at his customers demanding money instead of expanding product line or increasing a price here ans there.

 

[Uncle Al]

Just goes to show, you beat on them long and hard enough they throw up their hands .... only thing missing is for them to throw in the towel and quite altogether .... but that's probably next so keep up the pressure!!!!

 

[Darkmatter]

Trust broken. Unity toast.

 

[Wye43]

Too late.
I'm going back to the free Swift/Metal.
Android users are not purchasing squat anyway.
It ain't worth the hassle to deal with an underperforming single-threaded engine that can't get their act together.