Unity’s New Pricing and Its Impact on the Gaming Industry
Starting from January 1, 2024, Unity is implementing a new Unity Runtime Fee based on game installs. Games will be subject to this fee after meeting revenue and install thresholds ($200k USD or more in the last 12 months and at least 200k lifetime game installs). Developers will need to pay up to $0.20 in Runtime Fees each time their game is installed on a new device.
Apart from its contentious nature, the primary concern regarding the Runtime Fee announcement revolves around inadequate communication and a lack of comprehensive clarification from Unity. Despite some attempts to address initial criticism, numerous developers remain uncertain and have lingering questions about the forthcoming additional charges. Let’s discover how these changes will impact gaming and beyond. Helping us today is Denis Shergin, a seasoned IT professional with over 25 years of expertise, the CEO and visionary founder of UNIGINE (real-time 3D engine and series of GPU benchmarks with 50M+ downloads). Here is what he thinks about the new Unity fee policy.
How Unity’s decision impact on the gaming industry
Unity, currently the leading 3D game engine in terms of developer usage, is facing a potential mass exodus to other technologies due to its new Unity Runtime Fee policy. Developers might shift to alternative engines or opt to develop their proprietary engines, a feasible option only for larger companies. It’s important to consider the context: many developers have been using Unity for over a decade, relying on accumulated experience and technical assets that can be easily reused across projects. However, dissatisfaction with the technology’s quality and the company’s policies has been growing over the years, and this new policy might be the tipping point.
Unity’s management has faced challenges since a change in leadership in 2014, with a focus on maximizing profits, leading to the departure of the company’s founders. Additionally, Unity’s stock price has seen a significant decline since its IPO in 2020. Apple’s new data privacy policy dealt a substantial blow to Unity’s advertising revenue, further pressuring shareholders and prompting the change in monetization policy. Expensive acquisitions have not yielded the expected synergistic benefits.
Beyond financial concerns, Unity has accumulated technical problems, often neglected amid the departure of key developers. Unity initially attracted users with its simplicity, allowing for quick prototyping and the development of straightforward projects. However, in the mid-2010s, the company aimed to become a full-fledged AAA engine, resulting in the introduction of complex features that eroded Unity’s simplicity. User frustration grew as promised new features turned out to be unfinished, complicating the development process. Unity’s extensive platform support also strained resources, with varying performance demands across platforms causing stability issues and user complaints.
A mass migration to other engines will undoubtedly affect the industry, promoting the development of less popular technologies and providing opportunities for teams that bet on more progressive engines. Unreal Engine, currently the second most popular engine, is likely to attract the majority of these developers. However, Unity’s appeal for mobile platforms may lead to a wide variety of alternative engines for developers of simple 2D iOS/Android games. For high-quality 3D games on PC and consoles, other engines like UNIGINE are already experiencing an influx of new users, as are Godot and other alternatives. This shift could ultimately lead to an improvement in the quality of released projects.
The impact beyond gaming
As universal 3D engines like Unity are widely used in various fields, from architectural visualization to industrial simulations, this new pricing will affect plenty of other industries. Although Unity has limitations for highly specialized systems like flight simulators, projects outside the gaming industry often opt for Unity due to developers’ familiarity with the engine.
Unity alternatives
For developers with nearly completed Unity projects, there may be limited room for manoeuvre, but they should carefully review the new terms and adjust their monetization models accordingly.
For those in the early stages of a project, it might be time to explore alternatives. Try out free versions, create prototypes, engage with the engine’s support, and assess the financial model. Transitioning to another engine is not a catastrophe, as many aspects, including programming languages, data formats, and development approaches, remain similar across engines.
There are several alternatives, including UNIGINE, Unreal Engine, Godot, O3DE, CryEngine, Cocos2d, and Panda3D, each offering a wide range of programming languages, platform support, and capabilities to suit various development needs.
About the author
Denis Shergin, a seasoned IT professional with over 25 years of expertise, stands as the CEO and visionary founder of UNIGINE. Throughout his career, he has provided strategic leadership in overseeing the production of the company’s products and has served as a mentor for numerous game development endeavours. Denis also takes on the role of executive producer for an unannounced large game for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series platforms.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/binstream/
About UNIGINE
UNIGINE is a software development company headquartered in Clemency, Luxembourg. It is known for developing the proprietary real-time 3D engine and series of GPU benchmarks (50M+ downloads), as well as computer games and professional simulators. The company specializes in delivering cutting-edge B2B and B2C solutions encompassing simulation and visualization fields since 2005.
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