Some of your favourite games, such as Hollow Knight, Cities: Skylines, Valheim, Hearthstone, and many more, were built using Unity, a popular game engine.
However, many of these games might stop using that game engine because the company announced on Tuesday (12 September) that it would begin charging developers a per-install fee for games that have met certain revenue and install thresholds.
The fees, called “Runtime Fee”, will start on 1 January 2024, will apply to all versions of Unity except for the free Personal edition.
For users of Unity Plus and Pro, the thresholds are USD200,000 (approx. RM936,000) in revenue over the past 12 months and 200,000 lifetime installs. After those numbers are surpassed, developers will have to pay Unity 20 cents (approx. RM0.94) per install.
For users of Unity Enterprise, the thresholds are USD1 million (approx. RM4.6 million) in revenue and 1 million lifetime installs, with a per-install fee of 10 cents (approx. RM0.47).
In comparison to Unreal Engine, arguably the world’s most popular game engine, Epic Games will only charge a 5% royalty when a game title earns over USD1 million (approx. RM4.6 million).
Unity CEO John Riccitiello defended the fees, saying that they are necessary to fund the company’s continued development of its technology, according to Axios.
However, many indie game developers have criticised the fees, saying that they could make it difficult for them to make a profit on their games.
Some developers have also expressed concerns that the fees could lead to abuse, as developers could artificially inflate their install numbers in order to generate more revenue.
Unity has said that it will exempt games that are offered for charity or included in charities from the fees. The company has also said that it will not charge fees for installations of game demos, unless the demo is part of a download that includes the full game.
Unity Doubles Down on the Install Fees
After this huge backlash, Axios said the company’s intention is to levy charges solely for the initial installation and Unity had taken the initiative to convene discussions regarding this matter.
The company’s primary objective was to alleviate concerns related to “install-bombing,” a scenario where a disgruntled user might repeatedly uninstall and reinstall a game to accrue fees with the intent of penalising a developer.
However, it should be noted that an additional fee will apply if a user chooses to install a game on a second device, such as a Steam Deck, subsequent to installing it on a PC.
It remains to be seen how the new fees will impact the indie game development community. However, it is clear that they have already caused a great deal of controversy.
