‘Rust 2 Definitely Won't Be a Unity Game’, Insists Furious Dev

ign.com:

The creator of popular Steam survival game Rust has hit out at Unity amid the ongoing furore around new charges.

Unity sent shockwaves through the video game industry when it announced a new policy that means some developers will have to pay a small fee every time someone downloads a game built on Unity's game engine.

The Unity Runtime Fee, scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2024, was universally panned by developers on social media following the announcement. Unity later walked back some aspects of the policy amid escalating anger from developers, insisting the fee would only apply to the initial installation of a game, and that developers would not be on the hook for installations through subscription services such as Xbox Game Pass, with fees instead being passed to platform holders such as Xbox.

However, significant concern remains, and the backlash has only grown more vociferous. A number of high-profile developers have said Unity’s new policy will significantly affect their plans, with some questioning whether they will use Unity going forward. Cult of the Lamb and Among Us are among the high-profile games that face being pulled from digital marketplaces if Unity continues with its plan. Unity has since insisted 90% of its customers are unaffected by the change.

Developer Garry Newman, founder of Facepunch Studios and creator of the phenomenally popular Garry's Mod, penned a blog post with some choice words for the management team at embattled video game engine maker Unity.

“Maybe they forgot about PC gaming. Again,” Newman said. “It hurts because we didn't agree to this. We used the engine because you pay up front and then ship your product. We weren't told this was going to happen. We weren't warned. We weren't