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Post by Lizuka #BLM on Sept 12, 2023 15:35:25 GMT -5
www.gamedeveloper.com/business/unity-to-start-charging-fee-pegged-to-game-installs#close-modalLong and short of it next year they are going to start charging a flat fee for every time a game made with Unity is installed, including if it's someone reinstalling a game they already own. So likely going to see an absolute bloodbath of projects made in Unity being cancelled or delisted, and people possibly not even keeping them up for redownload if you already bought them. This is going to completely cripple a lot of indie developers and even a lot of more high profile ones are likely going to suffer hard for this.
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Post by Feargus McReddit on Sept 12, 2023 15:53:16 GMT -5
I cannot stress how downright baffling a decision this is and how much it could potentially hurt a lot of indie devs in different circumstances, especially ones ending up on Game Pass or the PlayStation Plus library in the next 12 months.
If Unity doesn’t back down, man, this will basically be the deathknell of it being an affordable platform for independent development, never mind added pressure it puts on studios that have to worry about being shut down by giant parent companies if they don’t bring in the money they need to exist.
Just…f***, man. What a gross thing to do.
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Post by The Legend of Groose on Sept 12, 2023 16:05:59 GMT -5
So like 80% of indie games are going to die. Cool.
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Post by darbus alan on Sept 12, 2023 16:07:39 GMT -5
Man this is a really shitty thing to do, especially tying it to installs and reinstalls. It sounds way too easy for some bad actors to weaponize that to financially hurt a company with excess fees.
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Post by Feargus McReddit on Sept 12, 2023 16:08:49 GMT -5
Man this is a really shitty thing to do, especially tying it to installs and reinstalls. It sounds way too easy for some bad actors to weaponize that to financially hurt a company with excess fees. People have pointed this out and it basically makes these companies’ entire ability to be in businesses reliant to Unity’s poor Customer Service department having to deal with this shit that isn’t their fault.
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Post by Lizuka #BLM on Sept 12, 2023 16:12:04 GMT -5
I cannot stress how downright baffling a decision this is and how much it could potentially hurt a lot of indie devs in different circumstances, especially ones ending up on Game Pass or the PlayStation Plus library in the next 12 months. If Unity doesn’t back down, man, this will basically be the deathknell of it being an affordable platform for independent development, never mind added pressure it puts on studios that have to worry about being shut down by giant parent companies if they don’t bring in the money they need to exist. Just…f***, man. What a gross thing to do. Then there's what it will do to projects not actually meant to be sold. Like top of my head, an extremely promising Danganronpa fan game, Project: Eden's Garden, had a demo put out earlier this year and is in the works as a full thing and it's made in Unity. People've been extremely hyped up for it and it's been warmly received so far, but being what it is there's obviously no money in it for the developers. And so assuming 200,000 people were to download it, surprise, they're now $20,000 in debt. I have to imagine they're going to be forced to cancel the game now because that is just not at all a viable thing to deal with for a free game. Here's another, similar for-instance making the rounds -
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Post by Bo Rida on Sept 12, 2023 16:15:19 GMT -5
Wow, has Elon Musk taken over Unity?
Ugh what happened to paying for something once? How the f*** can they try to charge this retrospectively and for something being re-downloaded.
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Post by Feargus McReddit on Sept 12, 2023 16:15:29 GMT -5
I cannot stress how downright baffling a decision this is and how much it could potentially hurt a lot of indie devs in different circumstances, especially ones ending up on Game Pass or the PlayStation Plus library in the next 12 months. If Unity doesn’t back down, man, this will basically be the deathknell of it being an affordable platform for independent development, never mind added pressure it puts on studios that have to worry about being shut down by giant parent companies if they don’t bring in the money they need to exist. Just…f***, man. What a gross thing to do. Then there's what it will do to projects not actually meant to be sold. Like top of my head, an extremely promising Danganronpa fan game, Project: Eden's Garden, had a demo put out earlier this year and is in the works as a full thing and it's made in Unity. People've been extremely hyped up for it and it's been warmly received so far, but being what it is there's obviously no money in it for the developers. And so assuming 200,000 people were to download it, surprise, they're now $20,000 in debt. I have to imagine they're going to be forced to cancel the game now because that is just not at all a viable thing to deal with for a free game. Here's another, similar for-instance making the rounds - They’ve at least answered that part. After making it worse with the first two answers.
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Post by Lizuka #BLM on Sept 12, 2023 16:26:37 GMT -5
I kind of forgot about the revenue threshold part so I guess that rules out hobby games, but still, this is going to be absolutely devastating for indie and mobile games.
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Post by Lizuka #BLM on Sept 12, 2023 16:35:26 GMT -5
Risking chasing Among Us to another engine might be a thing that'll get them to back down on this. Especially if the Genshin Impact publisher ends up doing the same.
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Post by The Legend of Groose on Sept 12, 2023 16:46:04 GMT -5
I feel so bad for developers that have their game 80% done that might have to either start over on a new engine or can their game all together because a games success would make a money hole.
Imagine being such a pos that you gatekeep people's creativity.
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Post by 67 more on Sept 12, 2023 16:46:44 GMT -5
The re-install thing is so unbelievably scummy
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Post by Lizuka #BLM on Sept 12, 2023 16:48:40 GMT -5
I feel so bad for developers that have their game 80% done that might have to either start over on a new engine or can their game all together because a games success would make a money hole. Imagine being such a pos that you gatekeep people's creativity. Especially ones with deals with like Gamepass or PS Plus. Potentially unlimited downloads from people and all you get's a flat upfront fee that'll be eaten through rapidly if your game's successful.
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Post by burdette25159 on Sept 12, 2023 16:50:29 GMT -5
I feel so bad for developers that have their game 80% done that might have to either start over on a new engine or can their game all together because a games success would make a money hole. Imagine being such a pos that you gatekeep people's creativity. Wouldn't be suprised if there are massive delays as they'll have to go to another engine
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Post by Feargus McReddit on Sept 12, 2023 16:53:16 GMT -5
I feel so bad for developers that have their game 80% done that might have to either start over on a new engine or can their game all together because a games success would make a money hole. Imagine being such a pos that you gatekeep people's creativity. Especially ones with deals with like Gamepass or PS Plus. Potentially unlimited downloads from people and all you get's a flat upfront fee that'll be eaten through rapidly if your game's successful. Especially a developer like Aggro Crab that’s following up Going Under, a game that sprung them into the spotlight, with Another Crab’s Treasure, already confirmed to be a Xbox Game Pass game when it’s out next year. It’s almost done, it’s going to get a demo during the Steam Demo Fest and it’s next game could be already in jeopardy even before it comes out because of all this.
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Post by burdette25159 on Sept 12, 2023 17:00:31 GMT -5
Especially ones with deals with like Gamepass or PS Plus. Potentially unlimited downloads from people and all you get's a flat upfront fee that'll be eaten through rapidly if your game's successful. Especially a developer like Aggro Crab that’s following up Going Under, a game that sprung them into the spotlight, with Another Crab’s Treasure, already confirmed to be a Xbox Game Pass game when it’s out next year. It’s almost done, it’s going to get a demo during the Steam Demo Fest and it’s next game could be already in jeopardy even before it comes out because of all this. Guessing that game gets delayed so it can be remade via a different engine
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Post by Lizuka #BLM on Sept 12, 2023 17:03:30 GMT -5
It bares noting that while they're saying that charity sales don't count, they have no way to actually track that because even the publishers don't.
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Post by Feargus McReddit on Sept 12, 2023 17:04:43 GMT -5
Especially a developer like Aggro Crab that’s following up Going Under, a game that sprung them into the spotlight, with Another Crab’s Treasure, already confirmed to be a Xbox Game Pass game when it’s out next year. It’s almost done, it’s going to get a demo during the Steam Demo Fest and it’s next game could be already in jeopardy even before it comes out because of all this. Guessing that game gets delayed so it can be remade via a different engine They put out a statement saying that would take way too long to do, especially with the delay they already had with it, so they just have to grin and bear it. The next game, they said, won’t if these stick.
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Post by Lizuka #BLM on Sept 12, 2023 17:07:49 GMT -5
I wonder if you might see a sudden rush to make Unity-free sequels of huge games. They can certainly afford it but I doubt even projects like Pokemon Go are looking to cut a half mil check to Unity every year for no reason.
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Post by Feargus McReddit on Sept 12, 2023 17:12:29 GMT -5
I wonder if you might see a sudden rush to make Unity-free sequels of huge games. They can certainly afford it but I doubt even projects like Pokemon Go are looking to cut a half mil check to Unity every year for no reason. Unreal has been out there talking about their own policy of not having to pay to them until people have made over a million from their games, and even then, it’s barely anything if you hit that mark, and honestly, Epic have way more of a reason to do the stuff Unity’s doing than Unity does since they’re the f***ing Fortnite people. Like, it’s not a perfect solution and there’s a precedence of ideas being taken to be put into Fortnite but it’s out there.
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