Unity Runtime Install Pricing Fee Awareness

This is not a normal Brass Brigade update announcement, but its an announcement I feel needs to be made as an indie game developer who uses Unity.

Yesterday, Unity announced a change to their pricing model that would essentially (for Unity Personal users, like myself) charge developers $0.20 per customer install of their Unity game. This fee would only go into effect if certain revenue and installation count thresholds were met. For Unity Personal users, if your game earns $200,000 in yearly revenue and 200,000 installations over its lifetime, you would be subject to pay this extra installation fee. You can read more about the specifics of their pricing model at this link; its far too nuanced for me to get into any deeper here.

While Brass Brigade falls far below these figures and I would not be subject to these newly proposed fees, this change from Unity sets an unacceptable precedent for the future of independent game development with their engine. There are many reasons Unity developers are concerned, and some of them may even extend to you, the customer/player.

Initial concerns of Unity's new system include...

• The amount charged and metrics calculation for number of installs is done entirely at Unity's discretion; there is no transparency for how they arrive at the amount they wish to charge a developer.

• There is no clear explanation for how the Unity Runtime "phones home" to tell Unity when it has been newly installed. You as a consumer and downloader of a Unity application have a right to know what data is being sent from your PC and to whom it is being sent.

• The instant you cross the threshold to qualify for the additional fees, you will be charged for all users & installations accrued up to that point. For example, if for 11 months you do not cross the thresholds of the fees, you owe Unity nothing. But if on the 12th month of the year you do, you are suddenly charged for the installations accrued in the first 11 months. By Unity's own math in the linked article, the minimum payment for a Unity Personal user crossing the $200,000 yearly revenue & 200,000 install threshold would amount to $22,500 for the first month.

• Malicious actors could potentially abuse this fee to harm developers financially by spam installing a Unity application repeatedly, wracking up installation costs against the developer.

• The developer is being held liable for the installations/uninstallation by his customers. That's like holding a car manufacturer liable for how people drive their cars.

• Pirated copies of Unity games could be counted and incur a fee against a developer who has not earned any revenue from that pirated copy.

...and the list goes on. These are just a few of the immediate red flags that this impending change may cause.

Brass Brigade Discord member Redemption created an excellent video that summarizes why you should care about this change. I recommend giving it a watch & sharing it with all your friends to put pressure onto Unity to revert their decision.

In short, any game that was made in Unity, however new or old it may be, is being threatened by Unity's new pricing model. Some of these games and their developers may not be able to continue supporting or selling their games due to this malicious decision from Unity. Please make your voice heard online by protesting this change from Unity - it serves to harm the interest of both passionate indie game developers and their players.

I love working on Brass Brigade. And while I am not personally affected by this change, I can understand how devastating it is for the developers who will be affected. Years of your life potentially wasted, irrecoverable time, effort, and money gone in the blink of an eye because of Unity's unfathomably out of touch decision making. It honestly makes me question if I should continue developing Brass Brigade and other projects in Unity (or at all)... Please know that the developers of all your favorite indie games right now feel exactly the same way. And for those of us who aren't affected - just because it wasn't us today, doesn't mean it couldn't be us tomorrow.

To Unity - you need to do better. This is not okay.

Thanks for your time & support, Henry