The new pricing program of Unity has been a disaster
The Unity Game-Changing Role in the Video Game Industry: Revisiting the Unity Pricing Model and Reports to Bloomberg and Mihoyo
According to the report, the fees will be capped at 4% of the revenue for customers who make over $1 million and those who reach the threshold won’t be retroactive.
The damage that has been done by the change to Unity’s pricing model is still apparent, even though we have not seen what new shape these changes will take.
An update on the pricing model will most likely be out by this week, though a new report fromBloomberg might outline the shape of the changes.
Additionally, Bloomberg’s report included that instead of Unity using what it called proprietary software to track a game’s installs, it will rely on users to self-report. The report shows that the changes were just meant to capture money from the highest-earning games. The extremely popular mobile games Genshin Impact and Pokémon Go were developed in Unity, and it was widely stipulated that these games were likely the company’s true targets. The Verge reached out to both developers, Mihoyo and Niantic, for comment; Mihoyo did not respond, and Niantic declined to comment. Previously, Unity also stated that for games bundled in subscription services like Xbox Game Pass, it would have service providers like Microsoft pay the install charges. Microsoft also did not respond to a request for comment.
The software framework that powers popular video games like Among Us and Pokémon Go is getting an overhaul to its pricing model. The change could make a huge difference to the entire video game industry.
“Every time we start a new game, right, we have to make this decision on what engine to use, and that’s a three year commitment, at the very least for us … In the next three years they could make a handful of other crazy decisions that totally throw us off course or harm our sustainability as a business. The attitude and ability to communicate has gotten lost in most of the industry as a result of the last week. It’s sad to see.
