So, Unity is charging game developers per video game install now... - eviltoast
Unity plan pricing and packaging updates | Unity Blog
blog.unity.com
In January 2024, Unity will introduce a new Unity Runtime Fee based on game installs. Prior to this, Unity subscription plans will add cloud-based asset storage, Unity DevOps tools, and AI at runtime at no additional cost.

So today Unity announced changes in how they are going to monetize their game engine, and it is, rightfully might I add, poorly recieved Here is how much youtuber Dani would have to pay unity if they consider his games to gain over $200k in revenue Dani's hypothetical unity payments

Now I don’t know how much tracking crackers and re-packers remove from the games getting cracked, but if unity were to count cracked games as a valid install (and they will count every install of a game they are aware of), thn piracy could seriously bankrupt indie devs. Like, not just losing them revenue, but actively losing them money. While piracy is already in an ethical grey area, I think that is just a bit too much. So, I want to raise awareness of this, and with it I have 2 questions to ask:

  • Do the people that crack games make sure to remove the ability of unity tracking cracked installs?
  • If the answer to the previous question is “no”, how do we make them aware of the fact that it is probably for the better if they do this?
  • Crazazy [hey hi! :D]@feddit.nlOPEnglish
    45·
    1 year ago

    Whatever metric they use to track installs has to prevent abuse like this

    I would be eagerly awaiting a follow-up response from unity from this, because as it stands right now, consensus among gamedev circles is that unity won’t prevent abuse at all, which is just awful for multiple groups of people.

    • someone paying for your game and then re-downloading it every hour would cost you $144 a month
    • someone paying for your game and then re-downloading it every 5 minutes would cost you $1728 a month
    • web games exist, and if the Unity Runtime Download metric is used there, well, that is going to be an expensive bill for anyone putting any sense of monetization in their web game
    • Sethayy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      5·
      1 year ago

      Yeah most games are available offline, how would they track these metrics beyond steam/store sales?

      And for the web games can they not be self hosted?