It was only a matter of time before Unity offered something in the way of a concession for the controversial install fee it recently unveiled to the horror of game developers. And while the company has offered an unambiguous apology for the way it initially planned to implement the runtime fee, it isn't backpedaling entirely.
"I want to start with this: I am sorry," reads a letter from Unity Create head Marc Whitten. "We should have spoken with more of you and we should have incorporated more of your feedback before announcing our new Runtime Fee policy. Our goal with this policy is to ensure we can continue to support you today and tomorrow, and keep deeply investing in our game engine."
As detailed in the updated pricing breakdown, Personal plans will now remain completely free and won't be subject to the fee at all. Unity is also making it so that developers on Personal plans can earn up to $200,000, an increase from the previous cap of $100,000. Furthermore, Personal plan developers will no longer need to use the 'Made with Unity' splash screen.
The terms of the fee are also being updated so that games which made less than $1 million in trailing 12-month revenue won't be charged the fee.
Developers using Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise will still be subject to the install fee, but there are some changes based on feedback. Namely, the fee will now only apply starting with the next LTS version of Unity that'll start shipping in 2024, so any games already shipped and projects currently in development won't be subject to the fee unless their developers switch over to the updated version of the engine.
This is a significant shift from the earlier plan, which would've began tracking at the new year and charging anywhere from $.001 to $.20 for each install. The original plan was to charge qualifying games the fee regardless of whether they were developed on a version of Unity that predated the new terms of service. All games built in Unity would've been charged a per-install fee after meeting certain success thresholds. Now, only games built in the new version will be subject.
"We will make sure that you can stay on the terms applicable for the version of Unity editor you are using – as long as you keep using that version," Whitten says.
Unity is offering developers whose games will be subject to the runtime fee two choices: they can either pay a 2.5% revenue share or an amount "based on the number of new people engaging with your game each month." Unity assures both figures are self-reported and that developers will always be charged the lesser amount.
"We want to continue to build the best engine for creators," Whitten said. "We truly love this industry and you are the reason why."
