What will Steam do now that Unity has become more greedy?

[Lil Silly Vert]

Will they start a lawsuit against Unity for a breach of contract like Nintendo and Square Enix?

I'm not sure how this will gonna work... I've seen this and there is some drama going on with Unity and other gaming developers.

[Satoru]

Originally posted by AustrAlien2010:

Oh, that's new. I never heard of that before. I still have all the titles that were removed in the past, and they can also be redownloaded.

Note that for a dev to bypass the install requirement the game would have to be outright removed entirely from Steam. They can't just delist the game because eveyone who already has teh game could install it still

Only one game this ever happened where the game was not only delisted from the store, but also removed from people's libraries, which was Order of War. There is no way Steam is goign to allow that for potentially tons of games.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Originally posted by AustrAlien2010:

Oh, that's new. I never heard of that before. I still have all the titles that were removed in the past, and they can also be redownloaded.

Note that for a dev to bypass the install requirement the game would have to be outright removed entirely from Steam. They can't just delist the game because eveyone who already has teh game could install it still

Only one game this ever happened where the game was not only delisted from the store, but also removed from people's libraries, which was Order of War.

Will be intresting to see how that would stand up in court. Legally if a game is sold you can't retroactively change the terms on installs of it after the fact. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out but this will primarily be between the developers and Unity with steam watching

[Boblin the Goblin]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Originally posted by AustrAlien2010:

Oh, that's new. I never heard of that before. I still have all the titles that were removed in the past, and they can also be redownloaded.

Note that for a dev to bypass the install requirement the game would have to be outright removed entirely from Steam. They can't just delist the game because eveyone who already has teh game could install it still

Only one game this ever happened where the game was not only delisted from the store, but also removed from people's libraries, which was Order of War. There is no way Steam is goign to allow that for potentially tons of games.

Was it added back because it's listed here;

https://store.steampowered.com/app/34600/Order_of_War/

[Satoru]

Originally posted by aiusepsi:

Originally posted by nullable:

Does Valve use Unity? If not, then why would they sue over a game engine they don't use?

I think some of The Lab is based on Unity, if I recall correctly. Something to do with building games based on what other devs are using so they understood where the pain points were.

It would be hilarious if Unity tried to extort steam by claiming their dota2/csgo and store revenue counted to the 200k limit and thus they were liable for install fees on THe Lab

[Satoru]

Originally posted by brian9824:

Will be intresting to see how that would stand up in court. Legally if a game is sold you can't retroactively change the terms on installs of it after the fact. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out but this will primarily be between the developers and Unity with steam watching

Haha so funny fact, Unity in fact said that they were going to not allow new terms of service to be allowed to apply retroactively

They revoked that clause in July

https://twitter.com/necrosofty/status/1702012698232504650

[Satoru]

Originally posted by SlowMango:

Originally posted by Satoru:

Note that for a dev to bypass the install requirement the game would have to be outright removed entirely from Steam. They can't just delist the game because eveyone who already has teh game could install it still

Only one game this ever happened where the game was not only delisted from the store, but also removed from people's libraries, which was Order of War. There is no way Steam is goign to allow that for potentially tons of games.

Was it added back because it's listed here;

https://store.steampowered.com/app/34600/Order_of_War/

Sorry it was a similar game from Square Enix called Order of War: Challenge

https://steamcommunity.com/app/34670

[AustrAlien2010]

Its an always online game I understand. I can understand that they cannot keep the server up and running forever. But as long as you can run them locally and without an internet connection, there should be no issue.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Originally posted by AustrAlien2010:

Its an online game. I can understand that they cannot keep the server up and running forever.

I mean, there are shut down online games still in people's libraries. They are just de-listed and not completely removed.

Originally posted by Satoru:

Originally posted by SlowMango:

Was it added back because it's listed here;

https://store.steampowered.com/app/34600/Order_of_War/

Sorry it was a similar game from Square Enix called Order of War: Challenge

https://steamcommunity.com/app/34670

Interesting.

[Squigalicious]

This is overall, a bad move that will not only effect game devs, but gamers as well. All it will essentially do, is incentives devs to delist there game after a set point. By which people who find out about said game after its been delisted, will be given no choice other than to pirate it... This move wasn't very well thought though.

[Slime]

Well developers have been raising their games prices to $70 so instead of the extra ten going to coperate porfits it can go to using this engine instead.

[Reported.]

Games are too expensive to make. Games should be 140 USD.

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by Satoru:

It would be hilarious if Unity tried to extort steam by claiming their dota2/csgo and store revenue counted to the 200k limit and thus they were liable for install fees on THe Lab

Never say never.

Originally posted by nullable:

Ultimately, everyone else will have to decide for themselves and maybe decide not to use Unity on future projects.

Now if only Valve would have put some actual muscle into it this would be a perfect time to advertise the Source engine.

Originally posted by Captain Squiggy:

This is overall, a bad move that will not only effect game devs, but gamers as well. All it will essentially do, is incentives devs to delist there game after a set point.

Delisting would still face install fees. It may force devs to push MTXs to 'feed' install fees. Something Unity CEO said devs were idiots for not adding them into their games.

And many projects in early development may be looking for other engine choices right now.

[Prof.Jackie]

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

[
Delisting would still face install fees.

No it wouldn't. A game needs to surpass a certain number of downloads AND revenue for that to happen. So if the developers would delist their games they wouldn't generate any revenue.

Still a s garbage move especially when you keep in mind that Unity doesn't have any reliable way to track said downloads. They admitted on their forums Unity can't do that and instead will use a proprietary algorithm to make up number for each game. If a dev doesn'tagree with the number the algorithm made up, they'll have to contact Unity to find an agreement.

Oh and to all those saying it doesn't affect Steam: In an interview they also stated to charge the distributor of these games. That would be Microsoft for games of Gamepass and Valve for games on Steam. So basically they want to give these distributors their made up numbers, want them to pay for the Unity fee and then recollect it from the developers and studios. Yes it's really as dumb as is sounds.

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by Prof.Jackie:

Oh and to all those saying it doesn't affect Steam: In an interview they also stated to charge the distributor of these games.

For installations made through subscription services. IE: Microsoft would be charged for Game Pass game installs.
https://www.axios.com/2023/09/13/unity-runtime-fee-policy-marc-whitten

As for Game Pass and other subscription services, Whitten said that developers like Aggro Crab would not be on the hook, as the fees are charged to distributors, which in the Game Pass example would be Microsoft.

[Satoru]

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

Originally posted by Prof.Jackie:

Oh and to all those saying it doesn't affect Steam: In an interview they also stated to charge the distributor of these games.

For installations made through subscription services. IE: Microsoft would be charged for Game Pass game installs.
https://www.axios.com/2023/09/13/unity-runtime-fee-policy-marc-whitten

As for Game Pass and other subscription services, Whitten said that developers like Aggro Crab would not be on the hook, as the fees are charged to distributors, which in the Game Pass example would be Microsoft.

I would love to see Unity try to send a bill to Apple or Microsoft or Sony on that. I can already hear the finance people in accounts payable laughing from here