Stationeers and Unity-Politics

[wuD]

I refer to this news:

https://www.pcgamer.com/an-astonishing-scumbag-move-indie-developers-react-to-surprise-unity-engine-pricing-changes/

Will Stationeers be affected and if how?

[Prolynx]

It wont

Update: Just hours after the new Runtime Fee policy was announced, Unity has told Axios that it has now changed direction on the "multiple installs = multiple charges" policy after "regrouping" to discuss the issue following the strong pushback from developers. A representative said that uninstalling and then reinstalling a game will not result in multiple charges, which Unity hopes will allay fears of "install-bombing."

[Rocket]

It is a serious issue for us.

We will be releasing a survey, posting the details here and on Discord, to ask the community which action they recommend we take, and how we should take it.

We are open to migrating the game to an alternate engine.

[Michaël]

That's the right attitude, do whatever it takes and you can count on my support!

"please also add plain colored overalls to the new DLC 'not just nationalities', and I'll make sure everyone I know has that DLC ASAP!"

[YamatoPower9000]

Originally posted by Rocket:

It is a serious issue for us.

We will be releasing a survey, posting the details here and on Discord, to ask the community which action they recommend we take, and how we should take it.

We are open to migrating the game to an alternate engine.

CEO of Unity already has been displeased with lack of monetization for indie devs. This is his attempt to force/encourage more DLC or other stuff.
You shouldn't ask community since no one has idea what you're capable to do with the game. All we want (I assume everyone agrees) in general terms - updates, content, polishing bugs, performance... Stuff like that. And only you know how much money can come from this or that decision and how much you can deliver.
I'd also wouldn't jump off the ship just yet and watched Unity's reaction on backlash.
Do what feels best.
Please don't tell Art of rail is on unity..... come on man...

[JeanDeaux]

I can certainly see why you'd be open to migrating.

[starfish prime]

I've been following the commentary on discord, and I just want to say how much I appreciate your openness with the community about the challenges the studio is facing. It's a tough business, and gaming could use more companies like RocketWerkz and more CEOs like Dean. I'm going to be picking up the full library to show my support. Thanks again for your hard work. You have my support however this unity situation ends up.

[wuD]

Originally posted by Rocket:

It is a serious issue for us.

We will be releasing a survey, posting the details here and on Discord, to ask the community which action they recommend we take, and how we should take it.

We are open to migrating the game to an alternate engine.

Thank you Dean, for that info
i really feel for everybody who invested in unity!
I wish everybody good luck with their transitions to something less corporate.

[Stargateur]

Unity send a clear message they are not reliable for long term project, if the purpose of Stationeers is to be a long life game it's probably better to find an alternative to unity, thus changing engine requires a lot of work.

Also, on legal note, no way unity can change TOS for their previous unity version to add a fee like that, they are day dreaming.

[wuD]

As a avid VR-user i am concerned,
since literally 70% of all VR-releases are based on Unity
all this, while 95% of VR, is Indie.

[ulzgoroth]

If some of the more maximalist understandings of this change aren't shot down in court, the consequences for the last several years of game releases could be drastic. (And the consequences for the next couple will probably be notable in any case as developers lose productivity retraining because they don't dare use Unity in new projects.)

[Anwaan]

I wouldn't completely rebuild Stationeers. But moving forward, I wouldn't develop any more games using their engine.

[MagicTime]

I believe Icarus is based on Unreal Engine and thus in house knowledge/experience. One option is to wrap up the current Stationeers as V1 (has plenty of features). Then start on V2 based on Unreal, focusing more on the "mothership" concept. I guess a year before initial V2 drops.

[Shadow of Bessarabia]

Originally posted by Rocket:

It is a serious issue for us.

We will be releasing a survey, posting the details here and on Discord, to ask the community which action they recommend we take, and how we should take it.

We are open to migrating the game to an alternate engine.

LOL. This would be a nice reaction. Unity will milk us? Okay, we just leave. LOL
In this case I would pay for a Bye-bye-Unity-DLC. Otherwise, it could be more economical to bury stationeers. Which would be a shame, indeed.

[Tux]

Originally posted by Shadow of Bessarabia:

Originally posted by Rocket:

It is a serious issue for us.

We will be releasing a survey, posting the details here and on Discord, to ask the community which action they recommend we take, and how we should take it.

We are open to migrating the game to an alternate engine.

LOL. This would be a nice reaction. Unity will milk us? Okay, we just leave. LOL
In this case I would pay for a Bye-bye-Unity-DLC. Otherwise, it could be more economical to bury stationeers. Which would be a shame, indeed.

The way it used to work before Unity introduced the concept of payment based on sales is this (this was around 2012)
If you want to make a game for income you would have to buy the full license of Unity or Unreal which I think was around $6000 per seat. You also had to spend the same amount for the Model design programs.

They changed that, enabling indie devs to get started without a large up front cost.
Other software suites followed their lead including Adobe (all of the software), AutoDesk (all products) and then Unreal. I think Unreal was the last to follow this trend.


Just a historical FYI

[rotard]

Originally posted by Tux:

Originally posted by Shadow of Bessarabia:

LOL. This would be a nice reaction. Unity will milk us? Okay, we just leave. LOL
In this case I would pay for a Bye-bye-Unity-DLC. Otherwise, it could be more economical to bury stationeers. Which would be a shame, indeed.

The way it used to work before Unity introduced the concept of payment based on sales is this (this was around 2012)
If you want to make a game for income you would have to buy the full license of Unity or Unreal which I think was around $6000 per seat. You also had to spend the same amount for the Model design programs.

They changed that, enabling indie devs to get started without a large up front cost.
Other software suites followed their lead including Adobe (all of the software), AutoDesk (all products) and then Unreal. I think Unreal was the last to follow this trend.


Just a historical FYI

Not sure what Unity you are talking about, but here in the real world you have a large up-front cost (per seat) every single year.
https://unity.com/compare-plans
Stationeers was released to early access in 2017... assuming they started development that year (lol) that would mean they have had to pay $12,000 per dev, so far. The full $6k license up front would be a HUGE improvement