#Unity appoints new CEO

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

serene willow
sweet gate
#

Kind of funny how people who were apparently invested enough to post about it in #💻┃unity-talk suddenly have nothing to say when there's a thread for it

#

Almost like they don't actually care they just want people to see them pretending to

devout barn
flat delta
#

Lets wait and see. The optics of another EA / Zynga type Exec certainly arent great. Obviously the signs to look for are him reverting some of the good things Whitehurst was doing. But Whitehurst being the head of the board seems like a good thing

rough gyro
#

most of the outcry is just people that want to be cynical, there is not much to guage on yet

devout barn
devout barn
flat delta
#

Yeah at this point, I think people are actually entitled to their cynicism

#

Im still cautiously optimistic though. I wish Unity would just stay how it is now, but faster. Iteration speed is my main concern, its such a slog ever since 2018 or whenever it started

candid basalt
#

while im not instilled with too much confidence, i do like seeing that Jim and Whitehurst are saying on in the C-suite, which some could argue is where the true power lies

#

so, maybe it won't be that bad

candid basalt
flat delta
candid basalt
#

ahhh ok ok

#

idk, i feel like no matter what, things will work out, at least for me

#

either Unity stays alright and im chill

#

or Unity explodes but i have a fancy tutorial series to watch in order to learn godot, lol

#

hopefully the latter doesn't happen, tho!

flat delta
#

Yeah, for solo devs it would be sad but manageable if Unity implodes (which it wont anytime soon, the doomers fail to account for the sheer amount of inertia behind Unity). But for companies, its a tough sell to re-educate 30-100 people who each have 10+ years of experience in Unity and related toolchains. Its doable, but expensive

candid basalt
#

yhea

rough gyro
#

its really mid to small sized studios that really rely on unity that would have the hardest time adjusting to something else

#

also not really that many other mature options yet

cursive path
#

Also, consider: the people who selected Bromberg for the job (i.e. the board) are the same people who selected Whitehurst, plus Whitehurst himself.

candid basalt
#

i don't like Jim anymore

#

😡

#

nah im joking, well i mean i guess we'll just have to see where it all goes

#

hoping for the best

cursive path
#

Me too 🙂

fiery parrot
#

I was going to say this the other day, but it was just too verbose. We've already cut down to a single unity license and are mostly on unreal now. But I think it speaks volumes that they didn't care or think twice about the image of putting a zynaga/EA microtransaction guy in front of the company. Always a big difference before claiming change but actually driving it.

I'm not surprised there isn't much dialog on it though. I figure most people don't care that much, don't know about it, or are waiting to see. Once the next mess up happens though, it'll get weaponized quickly and result in amplifying the response. Just optically is poor risk management mitigation if you ask me.

burnt knoll
#

I'm wondering if they'll address this.

Unity and its licensors and service providers own all intellectual property and other rights with respect to (a) the Offerings, Documentation, the Site, Developer Services, Unity Materials and other information or material made available to you by or for Unity, including any copies of the foregoing, (b) the structure and organization, the underlying algorithms and other internals, the protocols, data structures and other externals, and the source code of any of the foregoing, and (c) any materials or other information based on, derived from or otherwise using any of the foregoing (including Usage Data and Reporting Data). You do not obtain any rights to the foregoing except as set forth in these Terms and hereby assign to Unity any rights in the foregoing.

You have only the rights expressly granted to you under these Terms (including any Commercial Terms or Additional Terms). All rights not expressly granted are reserved by Unity and its licensors and service providers. You agree not to take any action, or to authorize or encourage any third party to take any action (or cooperate with any third party in taking any action), inconsistent with the foregoing.```
Makes it sounds like if you use any of Unity's data structures they own the entirety of your code. A lot of grey area where it can be claimed you used Unity's content and thus have no ownership,
#

In comparison to UE's EULA

As between you and us, you own all rights, other than rights in the Licensed Technology, in the Products you develop under this Agreement, and we own all title, ownership rights, and intellectual property rights in the Licensed Technology.

All rights granted to you under this Agreement are granted by the License only and not by sale, and all of those rights are limited by and subject to the terms of this Agreement. No license or other right in any Epic technology or intellectual property rights other than the Licensed Technology is granted under this Agreement, and no license or other rights will be created under this Agreement by implication, estoppel, or otherwise. Any attempted sublicense that is not consistent with the terms of this Agreement will be null and void.```
#

Also reminder


Fees and usage rates for certain Offerings are set forth within the Offering Identification. Unity may add or change fees, rates and charges for any of the Offerings from time to time by notifying you of such changes and/or posting such changes to the Offering Identification, which may include changes posted to the Site. Unity will provide you with prior notice of any changes affecting existing Offerings you have already started using, and your continued use of any Offering after the effective date of any such change means that you accept and agree to such changes.```
#

They may have backpedaled due to the massive backlash but they retain the rights to do it at any point again.

#

Last thing I want to point out is about the proprietary rights. You'll notice when looking at code heavy assets (like physics), they use a library which is generally done to obfuscate their code, but it also serves to retain their rights. Unity owns the entirety of the interface between said library and Unity because it's derived from Unity's structure and organization.
From the way that the TOS is worded, any code that has a Unity data structure is owned by Unity per section c of that clause.

As for non-code related assets, it can be argued that importing them to Unity utilizes its structure and thus the Unity Asset is theirs. The original non-converted asset is still yours but not the converted Unity Asset. In this way, the TOS is extremely grey to the point that it can be feasibly said that Unity owns the entirety of many games, from code to assets, made on the engine.

I do want to note that there is a bit of a non-factor aspect here as w/o the engine that theoretical game could not function, but the real issue is that any algorithm or structure you developed using the engine is owned by Unity. The lack of mention of any partial ownership is what's very strange.
TLDR; If you're going to do some heavy coding, make a library. Do your best to keep interface and functionality separate.

#

Unity and its licensors and service providers own all intellectual property and other rights with respect to...(c) any materials or other information based on, derived from or otherwise using any of the foregoing (including Usage Data and Reporting Data). You do not obtain any rights to the foregoing except as set forth in these Terms and hereby assign to Unity any rights in the foregoing.

clear leaf
burnt knoll
#

Are you referring to previous sections?

#

Sections A and B basically covers the engine contents. Section C states that anything using it is owned by Unity.

#

Are you mixing up foregoing with forgoing?

clear leaf
#

I am not mixing it up. Personally I don't read into it like you do. It's the same language used in Autodesk's terms, and they aren't owning people's work.

#

It'd be preferable if you made a thread on the forum (or found a recent pre-existing one), because this doesn't directly relate to the new CEO

burnt knoll
#

I'd argue that unlike Autodesk which is a modeling tool that'll have to fight a IP or patent battle for ownership of anything made, it's far easier to claim code which unless it's a patentable algorithm is hard to claim ownership of.

#

I'd like to see this topic discussed by the CEO, but I won't go further into it here.

delicate sail
#

So, unless U gives them a huge discount, we might see a linear loss followed by an exponent.

#

at large scale, besides number, it's about relationship - and that might be what the new CEO is hired to mend.