At an all-hands, Unity discussed potential changes to its controversial new fees, like capping fees to 4% of a game's revenue for customers with $1M+ in revenue
Devs on #Unity Runtime Fee: “The trust is gone forever” https://www.gamesindustry.biz/ ... @GIbiz @James_Batchelor X: @unity : We have heard you. We apologize for the confusion and angst the runtime fee policy we announced on Tuesday caused. We are listening, talking to our team members, community, customers, and partners, and will be making changes to the policy. We will share an update in a couple of days... Rami Ismail / @tha_rami : It's terrifying to think Unity leadership dragged this over the weekend leaving every studio out there with genuine existential concerns, and even now cannot simply go “our intent is to drop the per-install fee”. We have to be worried longer & we have to keep talking about this. Stephen Totilo / @stephentotilo : - Notable in Jason's scoop today is the idea that the Unity plan will not count installs retroactively. Retroactive aspects of policy have infuriated devs - It's striking how much Unity seems ready to rely on self-reporting installs as part of this 1/3 Stephen Totilo / @stephentotilo : When I spoke to Unity's Marc Whitten last week, self-reporting was already a surprisingly significant part of the plan For example, he talked about Unity having fraud detection systems but also being responsive to people calling up to say their game was targeted 2/3 Stephen Totilo / @stephentotilo : On not charging for charity installs, said Unity would rely on game makers to report that. “We don't have...some API or access to that” info All of which supports theory that Unity is going for the Genshin Impacts with these fees; might tolerate fuzzy numbers from smaller games @freyaholmer : I've been very clear with unity that if these points aren't addressed, I fear the engine might face the same fate as flash a massive, flourishing creative community slowly deteriorating because of corporate decisions like this. I don't want this to happen again [image] Jason Schreier / @jasonschreier : SCOOP: In a company all-hands meeting this morning, game tech maker Unity addressed the pay-per-install debacle and floated several big changes to the controversial new policy, including a 4% cap on fees and customers self-reporting installations. https://www.bloomberg.com/... Dominic Tarason / @dominictarason : If Unity really are capping fees to 4% and letting devs self-report installations, that's... still dumb as hell, but isn't going to bankrupt any studios, at least. It's *tolerable* for the next few years while current Unity projects are finished. Then it's off to new engines. Nic Tringali / @nictringali : All this does is prevent financial ruin for studios, wow, thanks. Installs remain impossible to track, and so self-reporting becomes a tug of war between thousands of developers and Unity, actual financial liability remains unpredictable, on top of per-seat licensing fees. @docm77 : Game engine developers make a bad decision. Devs of games get mad and call them out for their bad idea. Totally fine. Game devs make a bad decision. Player base gets mad and calls them out for their bad idea. Unacceptable behavior. Sos Sosowski / @sosowski : Remember when Unity changed their ToS so badly that they had to reverse it and put a clause that they can not retroactively change the ToS? Now they removed the clause and announced the fees, how do they plan to play this? They already played the “no more changes” card. [image] @toadsanime : Unity reportedly told a developer that their charity partners Planned Parenthood and a children's hospital were “not valid charities” and were “political groups”: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/ ... [image] Juan Linietsky / @reduzio : I have to say I find quite amazing that so many Unity users are begging the company for charging them upfront payment + revenue share. Hard to see a company with such faithful and loyal customer base. Can't picture Adobe, Autodesk or even Epic customers doing this. @daitomodachi6 : For people demanding that Unity fire their CEO, that's not going to happen. It'll be a miracle if that happens 💀 I just hope they walk back the install fees at least. If they don't then I guess my current projects will be the last I do with this engine. @bbuanes : @reduzio An rev-share is probably better in the long run for all parties involved. License fees makes it so Unity's core incentive is to get more users for Unity. A rev-share makes it so that Unity's core incentive is for it's users to make a bunch of money. George Broussard / @georgebsocial : @reduzio It's hard to overstate how empowering and enabling Unity has been overall for development from absolute beginners to seasoned pros. The loyalty and the anger are all from the tool being way more good than bad, despite internet bitching about it. Juan Linietsky / @reduzio : Not defending Unity leadership, but I think accusing them of greed when they are not profitable (and ad revenue is shrinking) is missing the point. To me the real problem is that the company got itself into a situation where It's just massively expensive to develop the engine..🧵 Mike Bithell / @mikebithell : Hehe, having failed to invent a magical install counting tool, unity are... hoping we will? Or that we'll guess and they can challenge that? Doesn't sound super solid, I'll be honest. @fabrazz : Let's assume all of this is true! 👍The Good 👍 Policy change no longer retroactive. 👎The Bad 👎 Policy still insists on installs? But now WE need to report them? We can't do that? 🤷The ??? 🤷 4% revenue cap for over 1 million. But no cap for over 200k without Pro license? Daniel Carvalho / @daniel_carvalho : If Unity are still daring to use installations as a metric, they're still screwed. It shows a total lack of understanding on their part. Tadhg Kelly / @tiedtiger : The bigger issue here is still that Unity tried to change terms on many developers mid-development. Devs aren't looking for adjust-and-move-forward talk here. They're looking for we-promise-won't-pull-this-rug- again @maxkriegervg : lmao at “customers self-reporting installations”. the making shit up as they go along continues Jaiden Gerig / @jaideng123 : This might be enough for some people, but the biggest issue IMO is that (as written) this still applies to previous versions of the engine + games already shipped and there's nothing stopping them from raising these fees any time they need more money @mommilph : I'm probably giving Unity TOO much credit, but they absolutely just wanted to do something ridiculous/impossible, so they could then walk it back to an original plan that's still bad, but people will stop complaining because, “Hey, it's better than what it was boasted to be.” [image] @haysey_draws : Lost are saying Unity never planned on the original terms, it was there so they could appear to back paddle to something less bad. To that I say, they went and destroyed their trust and no amount of backpedaling will fix it. It's over for them. @fuckedbyunity : “Although the company first said it would use proprietary tools, Whitten said Monday management will rely on users to self-report the data. (tracking of installs)” There should be no data because there should be no installation fees. Are you even listening to us?! 🤨@unity LinkedIn: Jakub Trancik : Under the tentative new plan, Unity will limit fees to 4% of a game's revenue for customers making over $1 million and said that installations counted toward reaching … Forums: Hacker News : We apologize for the confusion and angst the runtime fee policy caused r/TwoBestFriendsPlay : Report: Unity Overhauls Controversial Price Hike After Game Developers Revolt r/gamedev : Unity Overhauls Controversial Price Hike After Game Developers Revolt r/Unity3D : Unity revises the plan to something more reasonable... enough to undo the damage done? r/Games : Unity Overhauls Controversial Price Hike After Game Developers Revolt - BNN Bloomberg r/gamingnews : Unity reportedly told dev Planned Parenthood and children's hospital are “not valid charities” r/Games : Devs on Unity Runtime Fee: “The trust is gone forever” r/unity : Planned Parenthood and Children's Hospital are “political groups, not valid charities” says Unity r/pcgaming : Unity: We have heard you. We apologize for the confusion and angst the runtime fee policy we announced on Tuesday caused. …
Context & Ripple Effects
Unity’s original plan tied charges to game installations and plan tier, creating an unfamiliar cost basis for developers already weighing engine economics. The company then acknowledged widespread confusion and frustration while maintaining that most customers would not be affected.
The all-hands discussion is therefore a retreat from the most open-ended part of the proposal, not a settled policy: a revenue-based ceiling would put an upper bound on exposure for larger customers while Unity tries to repair a backlash centered on trust.
First-order effects
- Unity’s highest-revenue customers gain a potential 4% ceiling on runtime-fee liability, but must continue planning under policy uncertainty until revised terms are published.
- Unity is pushed to translate its apology into enforceable pricing details, including how revenue thresholds and the proposed cap would be applied.
Second-order effects
- Studios evaluating engines will put greater weight on predictable, revenue-linked costs versus install-based charges; Unity’s initial installation-and-tier fee proposal has made pricing mechanics a procurement issue.
- A cap could reduce the most acute exposure for successful games, but it does not by itself resolve developers’ concerns over reporting, measurement, and confidence in future terms.
Third-order effects
- If revenue caps become the durable remedy, game-engine monetization may move toward more legible, bounded take-rate models rather than charges driven primarily by installations.
- The episode suggests that developer-tool vendors’ ability to change commercial terms is constrained by ecosystem trust: even a lower price can face resistance when customers cannot reliably model long-term costs.
The trend: Developer platforms are being pressed to make monetization more predictable as creators treat pricing stability as part of the core product.