Spreading the word just in case: Unity planning additional fees per install

[Cpt.Haxray]

https://unity.com/pricing-updates

TL:DR, if installations go over a certain amount over a time frame after 2024, they will start charging per individual install. This does not care if its the same person reinstalling, and could have other issues with pirated copies or trolls trying to intentionally inflate prices. They've confirmed that this will apply retroactively.

Helping to spread the word incase devs or people are unaware as this affects all games using the unity engine.

[guillermoelnino]

Class action lawsuit time.
Also download every unity based game I have access to and install on backup drive time.

[Ailes]

They charge the devs if I'm seeing right? A majority of players will probably not notice or care then. There seemingly is also a threshold to be reached first, so whatever tiny Indie project you may launch on Steam will not immediately bankrupt you. But "installation bombing" is a reason for concern I guess.

[deadrop66]

Originally posted by Ailes:

They charge the devs if I'm seeing right? A majority of players will probably not notice or care then.

the devs will pass the cost on to the players so yeah we will notice

[Ailes]

Originally posted by deadrop66:

Originally posted by Ailes:

They charge the devs if I'm seeing right? A majority of players will probably not notice or care then.

the devs will pass the cost on to the players so yeah we will notice

Assuming they factor that in when they intially price and/or launch their game. Afaik the big players don't use Unity, only smaller devs who can't be asking very steep prices to begin with. I mean sure, if I were to launch a Unity game I could see myself slapping a few EUR/USD on top of what I was originally charging just to make sure that >if< it ever went beyond that threshold that you'd have to pay that and not me as the dev. But if some of you think you'll be paying 90$/€ for your games when this goes through you're probably worrying too much.

[Cpt.Haxray]

I ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up title, i was specifically meaning this as a way to get attention both to possibly alert devs as well to just let people know in general, incase games suddenly start getting pulled from steam.

These fees are not towards the buyers or players, at least not directly. But it does mean that, once this change is locked in early 2024, reinstalling a game can directly add a charge to the dev if it goes over their arbitary "installation limit".

[Kimosamie<sAp.]

Originally posted by Ailes:

They charge the devs if I'm seeing right? A majority of players will probably not notice or care then. There seemingly is also a threshold to be reached first, so whatever tiny Indie project you may launch on Steam will not immediately bankrupt you. But "installation bombing" is a reason for concern I guess.

Battle bit hits that req. Technically the game is illegally using unity by not buying+/pro after so many sales

[Dio]

lmao whats up doc

[fenrif]

Can't wait to do a bi-daily uninstall/reinstall of all my unity games. Might have to set up a some sort of a script to automate it.

[deadrop66]

Originally posted by Ailes:

Originally posted by deadrop66:

the devs will pass the cost on to the players so yeah we will notice

Assuming they factor that in when they intially price and/or launch their game. Afaik the big players don't use Unity, only smaller devs who can't be asking very steep prices to begin with. I mean sure, if I were to launch a Unity game I could see myself slapping a few EUR/USD on top of what I was originally charging just to make sure that >if< it ever went beyond that threshold that you'd have to pay that and not me as the dev. But if some of you think you'll be paying 90$/€ for your games when this goes through you're probably worrying too much.

a year ago this month they also annouced increased costs for subscriptions, this is becoming a trend and we will see the ramifications of this push towards more greed in the games that get released and how we buy them

[Jnlaw]

Yall wanna know why this wont really happen

Nintendos got games made with Unity.....I wish em luck with those laywers

[Ailes]

Originally posted by deadrop66:

Originally posted by Ailes:

Assuming they factor that in when they intially price and/or launch their game. Afaik the big players don't use Unity, only smaller devs who can't be asking very steep prices to begin with. I mean sure, if I were to launch a Unity game I could see myself slapping a few EUR/USD on top of what I was originally charging just to make sure that >if< it ever went beyond that threshold that you'd have to pay that and not me as the dev. But if some of you think you'll be paying 90$/€ for your games when this goes through you're probably worrying too much.

a year ago this month they also annouced increased costs for subscriptions, this is becoming a trend and we will see the ramifications of this push towards more greed in the games that get released and how we buy them

Can hardly get worse than abusive ingame monetization methods stacking up more and more. People never truly battled that. The larger numbers of casual players will wave this new Unity price plan through, they won't get upset if their Unity game of choice costs 22 bucks instead of 20. It will only be some entitled echo chamber "true gamer" minority who will get riled up over this. Or, well, the devs. And if this should prove to be a too easily trollable system then I guess they are right to be upset.

[fenrif]

Originally posted by Jnlaw:

Yall wanna know why this wont really happen

Nintendos got games made with Unity.....I wish em luck with those laywers

The real reason it wont happen is that it's most likely a con job to drop the stock price. The EA guy and the rest of the unity exec team have all apparently been dumping stock prior to this suicide announcement. Rumour is they will wait until the stock prices bottom out (go look at a chart of Unity stock, it's in free fall) and then they will buy it all back at a massive profit.
John "players should pay to reload their guns in battlefield" "devs who don't monetise their games are idiots" Ricitiello has only sold stock since he joined the company. Along the lines of 50,000 shares.
Sometimes you don't even need to bother checking the early life section.

[Kryll]

The installation fee is likely only going to apply per-system basis. So if you installed the game once, don't think you can uninstall and reinstall to epically own the devs.
Yes, that means your Unity games are pinging a server. Apparently even pirated Unity games do it.
Anyway, I hope Steam enjoys all the refunds that are made just to install a game once. If devs were afraid of review bombing, they'll sure love financial bombing.

[Noodlesocks]

I think this will kill unity. Fair enough for a fee per purchase but a fee per install is insane.

[Cpt.Haxray]

Originally posted by Kryll:

The installation fee is likely only going to apply per-system basis. So if you installed the game once, don't think you can uninstall and reinstall to epically own the devs.
Yes, that means your Unity games are pinging a server. Apparently even pirated Unity games do it.
Anyway, I hope Steam enjoys all the refunds that are made just to install a game once. If devs were afraid of review bombing, they'll sure love financial bombing.

Nope, they clarified in the article it counts whenever someone installs it. They claim they have a system in place to not count if someone keeps maliciously uninstalling/reinstalling, but it WILL count someone uninstalling and reinstalling it again at a later date

Granted they also claim their response to pirated copies was "We'll gladly work with you to avoid charging for those!" and not "Those wont get counted" so take with a grain of salt.