Unity, a developer of video game engines, has issued an apology following a backlash to its proposed new pricing structure.
The company behind the development tool stated that it intended to charge studios for each installation of a game created with it.
The studios behind indie successes such as Among Us, Slay the Spire, and Cult of the Lamb threatened to abandon the technology in response to harsh criticism.
Unity has now stated that it will amend the policy, but developers assert that it will need to exert significant effort to regain trust.
A game’s engine is a collection of tools that manages elements such as animation and audio and serves as its foundation or framework.
It is possible to create one from scratch, but it is time-consuming, so businesses frequently use pre-made versions to save time.
Unity, along with Epic’s Unreal Engine, is one of the most prominent examples. It is particularly popular with smaller studios, but also powers mega-hits such as Pokemon Go and Genshin Impact.
From retaliation to climbdown
This week, the company announced its intention to charge customers a fee whenever a game based on the engine was installed.
It was stated that the fee would not apply until a game reached a certain number of downloads, but that it could reach as high as $0.20 (£0.16) at its highest level.
This elicited a swift, furious response from the gaming industry, with some studios threatening to switch engines even if it meant potential delays for new releases.
Garry Newman, the creator of the wildly popular Garry’s Mod and proprietor of Facepunch Studios, stated that the decision had infuriated the community.
“That would be like Adobe charging all users of Photoshop per image view,” according to him.
In addition, developers accused the company of violating their trust and questioned how the fee would be applied.
Specifically, developers feared being charged for the installation of pirated copies, as well as the potential impact of being promoted on a subscription service like Microsoft Game Pass.
In an effort to pacify the situation, Unity issued a statement last Thursday clarifying certain terms of its new fees and asserting that the “majority of developers” would not be affected.
However, this was also harshly criticized, prompting a further statement apologizing for the “confusion and angst” it caused.
Unity stated that it would modify its policy and provide an update within the next few days.
Many individuals, including Geoff Keighley, the host of the Games Awards, urged the company to release the information.
A screenshot from Slay the Spire depicting the player character clad in armor and wielding a long, slender sword in front of a drawbridge-free medieval castle. Three identical foes – a blue orb with two pyramidal shapes affixed – stand opposite the protagonist. In the lower screen, a card stating “Thunderclap: Some prominent independent developers warned that they would stop using Unity if the company stuck to its plan, which would have a negative impact on their current projects” was displayed.
The developer of Among Us, Innersloth, stated that it would have to “delay content and features that our players actually want” in order to port the game to a new engine.
Mega Crit, the developer of Slay the Spire, announced in its first-ever public statement that it has spent the past two years developing a new game in Unity.
They stated that they would switch to a new engine if the proposed modifications were not abandoned, despite having invested “considerable time and effort” in the game.
The developer of the quirky hit Going Under, Aggro Crab, stated that abandoning Unity would result in the loss of a “wealth of expertise” garnered from using the platform.
And Massive Monster, the creator of Cult of the Lamb, stated that the change would result in “significant delays” for upcoming releases.
It concluded its statement by imploring Unity to “stop being stinky.”
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Jason Schreier, a reporter for Bloomberg and host of the Triple Click podcast, reports that Unity has been compelled to close two of its offices after receiving “credible” death threats.
According to a report on the website Mobile Gamer, the company also offered to waive the charge if developers joined its advertising program.
It was unclear whether the developers of Unity’s most popular games, such as Genshin Impact and Pokemon Go, would be affected.
Pokemon Go developer Niantic informed BBC Newsbeat that it is currently unable to comment on the situation.
We’ve also contacted Microsoft and Valve, the proprietors of the Steam game store, to inquire if Game Pass downloads will be affected.
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