Unity has partially withdrawn plans to monetize its popular and controversial game engine.
Last week, the software development company announced plans to charge developers a fee every time a game that uses the Unity engine is installed.
Starting in January 2024, the proposed Unity runtime fees will apply to games that meet minimum revenue criteria and exceed minimum lifetime installs.
Following significant backlash from game developers, Unity has since apologized and said it plans to change its policy and will make an announcement in the coming days.
On Friday, the company announced details of these changes. First, Unity has confirmed that it will no longer charge per-install fees to users on the Unity Personal or Plus plans. New Unity runtime pricing applies only to Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise.
More importantly, the fee will no longer apply to existing games. “Only those created with or upgraded to the Long Term Support (LTS) version (currently referred to as 2023 LTS) released in 2024 (or later) are affected.” I have written Mark Witten of Unity.
For these games, fees are now only applied after the game exceeds two thresholds: $1,000,000 (USD) in gross revenue (after 12 months) and 1,000,000 initial engagements.
“I would like to start with this: I am sorry,” Witten wrote. “We should have talked to more of you and incorporated more of your feedback before announcing our new runtime pricing policy. It’s about being able to continue.
“You are what make Unity great. We listen to you and know we have to work hard to earn your trust. We listen to your concerns. We are listening and are changing the policies we have announced to address it.”
Last week, Unity closed two offices and canceled a scheduled town hall meeting after receiving “credible death threats.”