Game devs announce plans to drop Unity, urge players to protest new per-install fees

rockpapershotgun.com:

Several game developers have called on their players to protest Unity's recently announced new pricing structure, under which developers who reach a certain threshold of revenue or game installations will be charged every time somebody installs their game. A few teams have also announced plans to dump Unity and move their projects to other game engines, such as Godot or Unreal.

Among those considering a trip to new pastures is Frogsong developer FrogteamGames. "While Frogsong is not currently close to this threshold, any future development in Unity has now become a financial risk for indie developers like ourselves," the studio wrote on Xitter.

"Free downloads are charged, which makes giveaways, charity bundles, and platforms like GamePass too high of a financial risk for us to be able to pursue. These fees do not benefit developers in any way, and instead can actively harm them."

There's confusion still about how Unity's new pricing policies (which don't kick in till January 2024) will be applied - the full FAQ is over here. The company have told Stephen Totilo of Axios that "charity games/bundles [are] exempted from fees", though how exactly Unity will distinguish between these and other games remains to be seen.

"Frogsong's Nintendo Switch port will continue to be developed in Unity," the FrogteamGames post continues, "as it's far too late to change engines, but we will not be working in Unity for future games. We cannot stand by these decisions, and we cannot afford the risk it would place on our small team.

"We urge you to take a stand with indie games, and call for Unity to reverse these harmful changes."

Among Us developer Innersloth also say they're looking into ditching Unity. "This would harm not