Leading VR engine Unity will soon charge developers per install

Unity plans to introduce a new ‘Runtime Fee’ next year and charge developers based on the number of installs they achieve.

Effective January 1, 2024, Unity confirmed that all games running the Unity Engine – including the Unity Editor and Unity Runtime – will be subject to this new fee based on revenue over the past 12 months and total installs. life. Studios on the Personal or Plus plan must achieve $200,000 in revenue and 200k installs, with subsequent installs costing $0.20 each.

Pro or Enterprise plans have significantly higher thresholds, starting at $1 million in revenue and 1 million installs. For Pro users, installation fees range from $0.15 – $0.02 depending on the game’s threshold level, while Enterprise users range from $0.125 – $0.01. Here is the full table:

Detailed in the FAQ, Unity has confirmed this fee applies to existing games that distribute the Unity Runtime, although developers will not be charged retroactively for installs. Standard rates will apply to installs across 18 countries, including the US, Australia, UK and Japan. However, emerging gaming markets like India will enjoy discounted rates.

Unity states that “qualified customers” may be eligible to receive a credit toward Runtime Fees, based on adoption of other Unity services. Editor excluded, including use of Unity Gaming Services or Unity LevelPlay, a mediation service for ad-supported mobile games. Movie, gambling or educational subscriptions are not affected.

Developer response

The Runtime Fee announcement was received negatively by a large number of developers whose work they do in Unity. Some expressed interest in alternative game engines like Godot or Unreal, while others questioned the broader impact on current releases. Initial criticism was quite unanimous.

Especially in VR game development, it is believed that the majority of studios use Unity Engine. Many VR developers such as Anton Hand (Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades), Zach Tsiakalis-Brown (Vertigo 2), Dirk Van Welden (Space Pirate Trainer) and Ryan Engle (GOLF+), Akin Bilgic (Brink Traveler), Jason Warburg (VZfit) and Bastien Gorissen (Silhouette) have also criticized the decision.

Responding to a request for comment, Liam Cary (Arcade Legend VR) believes that Unity will roll back this change due to the backlash. He believes that “some developers could actually benefit by reducing license costs” but stated that this could harm free-to-play games like Roblox and VRChat, while also eliminating the marketing features like the Steam Next Fest demo or soft launch on SideQuest/App Lab. After publication, First time game (Inter Solar 83) said they could not see how this could be enforced.

In an email to UploadVR, Holden Link from Turbo Button (Floor Plan 2) called Unity’s announcement “nonsense” and confirmed that the team recently evaluated Unreal. “However, with this latest change and the breach of trust it represents, it is hard to imagine being excited about starting a new project in Unity,” Link advises.

In another email, Yacine Salmi of Salmi Games (Eye of the Temple) said the team had previously stopped switching to Unreal or Godot engines because of the high costs, but now sees sticking with Unity as a “risk.” major strategic risks”.

Today Unity broke our trust and confidence in their engines and business model. Even if they retract this, it would be a huge strategic risk for us to build another game using their engine. This is truly shocking and disappointing behavior from their executive team.

We’ll be watching for updates or policy details as developers continue to respond to the new Unity fees.

This article was updated on September 12, 2023, with additional feedback from VR developers.