"It must be a partnership built on trust."
Remember when video game engine developer Unity Technologies pissed off scores of developers by announcing it would be implementing a Runtime Fee where they would be charged for every install of a game made with Unity? And the subsequent wave of backlash and negative press that followed? And then the ensuing decrease in revenue as a result of that?
Yeah, Unity definitely remembers all of that and has subsequently decided to cancel its Runtime Fee. The company put out a statement on its website on September 12, 2024 where it announced the policy had been canceled, effective immediately. Here's a bit form the statement, as written by Matt Bromber, Unit's president and CEO:
Over the last 20 years, we’ve partnered with brilliant designers and developers, artists and engineers, publishers and platforms, to build a world where great games could be built by anyone, for everyone. We called it “democratizing game development,” and it remains our core mission today.
However, we can’t pursue that mission in conflict with our customers; at its heart, it must be a partnership built on trust. 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. 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.
It's a surprising move, but given the choice between losing money and staying in business, most companies will choose the latter. Still, to so publicly acknowledge the failure of this initiative and extend an olive branch like this is nonetheless refreshing. It's certainly a win for developers, especially smaller ones that are dependent on tools like Unity to realize their vision and bring exciting, new projects to market.
Source: Unity Website
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