flint dragon
https://blog.unity.com/news/plan-pricing-and-packaging-updates
Unities new pricing rules have understandably caused quite a stir in the Gamedev community. Imagine being years into development work and you learn you need to accept this change, or redo your hard work in another engine? I think Unity sucks for this. Interested to hear what you think!
opaque juniper
I saw this but luckily I believe we're not affected (at work) because we use it only with WebGL, which probably doesn't count as an "install"
This is clearly geared towards game devs and it's a little unclear how and if it applies to a company like mine just using it for 3D rendering on the web.
We are prepared to simply replace Unity though if necessary. There's a lot of great libraries for 3d rendering in the browser so I'm sure we could find something.
hexed estuary
$0.20 per install isn't a terrible price, especially given the thresholds they've set.
I do think there are probably better ways for them to increase revenue. My biggest issue with this is that they're using their own metrics to track installs, so you're reliant on them being accurate. They're also saying they'll work with developers who's games are being pirated or part of an install bomb, but then you're at the mercy of Unity's customer service.
Very messy but I think their pricing model isn't terrible...
And yeah, it doesn't apply to web based games
crimson cloud
There has been a lot of talk about this, and the pricing only applies to devs IF they manage $200k in sales within 12 months AND have at least 200,000 lifetime installs
The new pricing affects ONLY Unity Personal, and Unity Plus licenses
Install bombing isn't going to be a thing, it's per device installs, this has been clarified by Unity themselves as well.
Unity Pro is $0.15 for the first 100,000 installs, $0.075 for installs 100,000 -> 500,000 and $0.03 for installs 500,000 -> 1,000,000, and $0.02 for any install after that, and Pro is $2000 a year per company. Enterprise is even cheaper than that
hexed estuary
I feel like the backlash is mostly due to poor communication about the changes when they first announced them.
crimson cloud
Yeah, but it's been fearmongered as being "the death of Unity" when it's not that at all
flint dragon
It doesn’t make sense to tax installs, it does make sense to take a % of revenue or similar
hexed estuary
Yeah
crimson cloud
TL;DR: Less than 10% of Unity devs are potentially affected by this
hexed estuary
It doesn’t make sense to tax installs, it does make sense to take a % of revenue...
I'd agree, but this also isn't a product ending change
flint dragon
It’s trust ending
hexed estuary
Don't see how a revenue share change would have been any better for trust
crimson cloud
Do you have over 200,000 installs on separate devices? If yes, then do you make $200,000 a year in revenue from sales of the game? If yes, then you're affected by the new pricing
At which point, you should already be using Unity Pro or Unity Enterprise in the first place
flint dragon
Don't see how a revenue share change would have been any better for trust
It’d be in line with industry norms, so at least not as big of an impact
crimson cloud
"Hey, we're now just taking X% of all of your revenue, kthxbai" would've been a lot worse of an outcome for all of this, honestly
flint dragon
Well now you basically need to ensure you’re making more money per user then the fee, or you’re in the red. At least % share scales with different business models better
hexed estuary
I feel like $0.20 is gonna be way less expensive than any revenue share. If your game is $10 a single install is only 2%. Most games are more than $10... right???
flint dragon
Lots of games are free
hexed estuary
Then you won't hit the $200k threshold
crimson cloud
Then you're making a grand total of $0.00 of revenue for installs
hexed estuary
And it doesn't apply to subscriptions
flint dragon
Yes you will, if you’re making for example 200k off 5 million users or similar
For example ad driven games, microtransaction games will be unfairly penalized more harshly
crimson cloud
If the game's free, you won't reach the $200,000 in 12 months threshold to be hit with the new pricing
That applies to ONLY game purchases, not in-app purchases etc, as far as I'm aware
flint dragon
And you need more users to make $ with free games
crimson cloud
You have to reach both of the thresholds for the pricing to apply
flint dragon
Yes, there’s lots of games that do
crimson cloud
It's per install, per device, per purchase of the game itself, not in-app purchases/microtransactions
flint dragon
Yes I understand
hexed estuary
I feel like a game is unsustainable if you're making <$0.20 per user
And have over 200k installs
There's a bigger issue than Unity's pricing model in that case
flint dragon
In free games the amount of money you make per user is lower. Thus you’re paying a higher fraction as you need more users to make a similar amount of money as a 10 dollar game for example
crimson cloud
Free games will never be hit with the new pricing...
flint dragon
Why??
crimson cloud
No matter how many installs you get
flint dragon
😂
hexed estuary
I understand that but revenue per user over time should be in dollars not cents
crimson cloud
They do not reach the $200,000 per year of GAME purchases threshold
flint dragon
They do not reach the $200,000 per year of GAME purchases threshold
Read it again
Unity Personal and Unity Plus: The Unity Runtime Fee will apply to games that have made $200,000 USD or more in the last 12 months AND have at least 200,000 per-game lifetime installs.
Doesn’t specify how
hexed estuary
From what I'm reading it's not only game sales, it's revenue
However they do say that subscriptions don't count
I do think ad sales count because they call out that using LevelPlay for ads will get you per install credits
But I still think that at $0.20 any ad supported game should still be able to be profitable. Not being able to earn $0.20 per user is unsustainable.
flint dragon
I guess we hope they figure out how to protect against malicious actors abusing this system lol
hexed estuary
That's my biggest gripe with this. Way to ambiguous and dependent on unity being a forgiving dictator
flint dragon
And yo they install tracking on everyone’s games now, that’s pretty wild.
hexed estuary
I think revenue share would be more expensive but would be less messy
flint dragon
Yeah. I just don’t see why the amount you pay doesn’t scale with how much you make
Like we’d assume with more players more money but it’s kinda nuanced I think
flint dragon
There has been a lot of talk about this, and the pricing only applies to devs IF...
What if I automate installing on VMs or something. Or my game gets pirated. Or if I just find a way to trick Unity into thinking it’s a new device
compact parrot
It's your fault for not expecting it 
flint dragon
hexed estuary
Twitter
flint dragon
Let’s gooo
