Unity makes big changes to the install fee that pissed off just about every game developer last week

pcgamer.com:

Last week, just about everyone in the games business was mad at Unity over a new, retroactive per-install fee for games made with the engine. Unity developers raised troubling question after troubling question about the proposal: How would installs be counted? What if someone reinstalls a game over and over? What about cases where a developer could end up paying Unity more than they made from selling their game? After over a week of turmoil, Unity has announced that it's walking back the most objectionable aspects of the fee.

In an «open letter» published today, Unity executive Marc Whitten apologized for the company's errors and outlined the revised plan. Here's the big stuff:

The changes address the biggest complaints with the fee's particulars. It's no longer retroactive so long as developers don't move their existing Unity games onto a new version of the engine (although this could become an issue for games receiving long-term updates), and the revenue share option means that developers who produce free or cheap games can't wind up in a situation where Unity charges them more than they're earning. 

Unity's 2.5% royalty maximum is lower than Unreal Engine's 5%, which is applied to Unreal Engine games which have earned over $1M in lifetime revenue. (Although note that Epic does not charge for use of the Unreal SDK regardless of studio revenue, whereas Unity charges per-user for its Pro and Enterprise plans.)

Everyone, however, is not friends again. Although these changes make the proposal less objectionable and there are positive responses to the letter, Unity's surprise announcement last week put developers in a defensive posture, and not all of them are lowering their guard.

Facepunch Studios founder Garry Newman,