Game developers from across the world are raising concern regarding the recent pricing changes made by Unity Technologies.
Multiple game developers are now taking to social media to express concern over the harsh new pricing changes made by Unity engine. The game engine maker has announced that it will soon be taking a fee from developers for every copy of a Unity game installed over a certain threshold, regardless of how that copy was obtained.
Indie game studio Aggro Crab has stated that its game, Another Crab’s Treasure, will be coming to Xbox Game Pass in 2024, which means that it will be free to install for the 25 million Game Pass subscribers. If a fraction of those users download the game, Unity could take a fee that puts an enormous dent in the developer’s income and threatens the sustainability of its business. This decision puts the studio and countless others in a position where it might not be able to justify using Unity for future titles. If these changes aren’t rolled back, the developer will heavily consider abandoning its wealth of Unity expertise accumulated over the years and starting from scratch in a new engine, which is something it’d rather not do.
Similarly, Colorgrave Games has expressed shock over Unity’s new pricing plan, stating that it dramatically and negatively impacts the community of smaller developers that the engine maker helped support, including itself. The development team doesn’t know what this means for the studio going forward, and it took the opportunity to apologize for any delays this might cause, as it tries to figure out what it’s going to do.
Innersloth, the studio behind the popular social deduction game, Among Us, stated that the pricing change made by Unity would not only bring harm to its developers, but also fellow game studios of all budgets and sizes. If this goes through, the development team will have to delay content and features that its players have been looking forward to.
Meanwhile, indie game developer Studio Kumiho also raised concern in its statement, stating that the pricing change from Unity could put many careers in an uncertain position. In particular, the rules around services like Xbox Game Pass, where players can download as many games as they want (as many times as they want) for a monthly fee, make it so that Unity may take even more money from developer’s pockets.
