An indie developer known for creating management sims has created the saddest Steam sale ever following the Unity fee news.
As spotted by Wario64 on Twitter, developer Kairosoft (known for Game Dev Story) has released a new bundle for its games on Steam, titled: "KAIROSOFT GAMES ARE MADE IN UNITY…" along with two tearful emojis on either side of the bundle's name. If you scroll down to the four-game bundle's description, you'll also just find another crying emoji and nothing else, which makes this saving really sad.
The actual name of the bundle has crying emoji in it lmao pic.twitter.com/twM8ar0u60September 15, 2023
Earlier this week, game engine developer Unity announced its plans to charge game developers a fee each time someone installs their game once it reaches a certain threshold. This understandably has angered and upset a lot of indie developers, many of which have released statements addressing Unity's changes. Kairosoft's response is one of the calmest reactions we've seen to the news so far, but it's still just as troubling as the other more direct responses developers have had.
Some of the more notable reactions we've seen include Cult of the Lamb developer Massive Monster who, shortly after the changes were announced, tweeted that players should pick up its game before the new fees come into place as "we're deleting it on Jan 1st." This appears to be a joke and not an actual set-in-stone plan, but it still shows the outrage the indie developer is feeling.
As well as this studio, the developer of anticipated Soulslike, Aggro Crab, also released a statement calling the changes "shortsighted" and adding: "I f***ing hate it here." Following the reaction to its changes, Unity issued a statement but this did little to solve the backlash the company continues to receive.
For more developer reactions: Game devs say Unity's new install fee is a threat to everyone, including gamers, and there's no going back.
