Unity announced a new Runtime Fee last September which led to severe backlash from developers. The new fee was expected to go into effect on January 1, 2024. That idea has now been scrapped, but at what costs?
Matthew Bromberg, president and CEO
“After deep consultation with our community, customers, and partners, we’ve made the decision to cancel the Runtime Fee for our games customers, effective immediately,” said Unity’s new president and CEO Matthew Bromberg on Thursday, September 12, 2024. He added that “non-gaming industry customers are not impacted by this modification”.
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Bromberg said the company has partnered with designers, engineers, developers, artists, and publishers to build a world where anyone from any part of the world can make games which they called “democratizing game development”.
Although he said that the company’s mission has not wavered, he noted the way the company pursued its mission conflicted with its customer’s interest and that pursuant to the mission “must be a partnership built on trust”.
“I’ve been able to connect with many of you over the last three months, and I’ve heard time and time again that you want a strong Unity, and understand that price increases are a necessary part of what enables us to invest in moving gaming forward. But those increases needn’t come in a novel and controversial new form.
“We want to deliver value at a fair price in the right way so that you will continue to feel comfortable building your business over the long term with Unity as your partner. And we’re confident that if we’re good partners and deliver great software and services, we’ve barely scratched the surface of what we can do together.”
What will change in Unity going forward?
Instead of the controversial Runtime Fee introduced by former CEO John Riccitiello before his ouster, the company will revert to the existing seat-based subscription model for all gaming customers. In between, Bromberg announced that Unity 6 will launch later this year. You can get the preview copy here.
According to the company, Unity 6 will offer “faster rendering, powerful lighting options, end-to-end multiplayer workflows, dynamic AI capabilities, and deeper support for mobile web runtimes”.
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In the new price regime, Unity Personal will remain free. The company will also be doubling the current revenue and funding cap from $100,000 to $200,000. Also, the “Made with Unity” splash screen that pops up at the beginning of games made with the engine will become optional for Unity Personal games made with Unity 6.
Unity Pro will get an 8% subscription price bump which will bring the new annual fee to $2,200 per seat. Customers who earn over $200,000 annually in revenue or funding must upgrade to Unity Pro.
Unity Enterprise will also get a 25% subscription price bump, and required for customers with an annual revenue or funding of over $25 million—and a minimum subscription requirement may apply.
“From this point forward, it’s our intention to revert to a more traditional cycle of considering any potential price increases only on an annual basis,” Bromberg said.
Finally, Bromberg said if the company ever updates Editor software terms, customers can continue to use their current version of the software in the old term and will only be bound by the new term when they update their software to a newer version.
A little too late?
When Unity introduced the controversial Runtime Fee, several game developers reacted by moving to other game development software. Some called it a breach of trust—and one thing with trust is that once broken it is hard to rebuild.
The company’s share price took a hit too. According to Yahoo Finance, the company’s stocks hit a peak of $43.54 in December 2023 before gradually declining until they hit a bottom of 13.90 in August 2024.
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While rescinding the Runtime Fee is a step in the right direction, the question that most game developers will be asking is, “What if it happens again—or something worse?” That question is enough to keep many reluctant to return to the platform.
It will take a lot of convincing and many years of consistent policy to build back that trust. But what is the best alternative game development software to Unity? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
