Unity backpedals, but we’re still confused

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Unity is walking back its new (and highly controversial) Runtime Fee policy. The company planned charge developers for each game download after meeting certain thresholds. This move was widely criticized and prompted a boycott of Unity Ads from top development studios.

After apologizing to developers, Unity announced the policy will only apply to games built on the next version of Unity. This version is due out in 2024 (or later). Games built on currently supported versions of Unity will not be affected.

For games built on the next version of Unity, “the fee is only applicable after a game has crossed two thresholds: $1,000,000 (USD) in gross revenue (trailing 12 months) AND 1,000,000 initial engagements,” Unity said in a blog post. Once games cross these two thresholds, developers will be charged the Runtime Fee based on either monthly initial engagements or 2.5% of a game’s monthly gross revenue — whichever is less.

“Your games that are currently shipped and the projects you are currently working on will not be included — unless you choose to upgrade them to this new version of Unity. 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,” said Marc Whitten, Unity Create president, in an open letter.

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