Unity cancels Runtime Fee

gamesindustry.biz:

Unity has cancelled its runtime fee after "deep consultation" with its "community, customers, and partners."

Last September, Unity announced it would impose a Runtime Fee on every install of a Unity game after it reached certain install and revenue thresholds. There was considerable backlash to the move, and Unity eventually removed the Runtime Fee for any games built on a Unity Personal license.

Now, in a statement, president and CEO Matt Bromberg acknowledged the fee conflicted with the company's core missions to "democratise game development", and confirmed it was reverting to its existing seat-based subscription model with immediate effect.

"We can't pursue that mission in conflict with our customers; at its heart, it must be a partnership built on trust," Bromberg said. "I’ve been able to connect with many of you over the last three months, and I’ve heard time and time again that you want a strong Unity, and understand that price increases are a necessary part of what enables us to invest in moving gaming forward. But those increases needn’t come in a novel and controversial new form.

"We want to deliver value at a fair price in the right way so that you will continue to feel comfortable building your business over the long term with Unity as your partner," Bromberg continued.

"And we’re confident that if we’re good partners and deliver great software and services, we’ve barely scratched the surface of what we can do together."

Bromberg added that non-gaming industry customers are "not impacted" by the changes.

Going forward, there will be a free Unity Personal licence, for which Unity has doubled the current revenue and funding ceiling from $100K to $200K.

Unity Pro and Unity Enterpise subscriptions will be "modified" for new qualifying annual revenue thresholds, effective from January 1, 2025, with the former going up 8% p.a. and the latter 25%.

"Canceling the Runtime Fee for games and instituting these pricing changes will allow us to continue investing to improve