Unity Begins Charging Installation Fee in Major Shift

Unity, the game development platform, has announced a significant change in its pricing structure. Starting January 1st, 2024, Unity will introduce an installation fee for developers who surpass certain revenue and install thresholds.

The new fee will apply to users on the Unity Personal and Unity Plus plans who exceed $200k revenue in 12 months and 200k lifetime installs. For developers on the Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise plans, the threshold is set at $1m revenue in 12 months and 1m lifetime game installs. Developers in emerging markets will benefit from reduced fees.

This move marks a departure from Unity’s previous stance on democratizing game development. Many developers are expressing their frustration and concern over the substantial increase in costs.

New Tools and Tiers

In addition to the installation fee, Unity has introduced a suite of new tools for Unity Personal users. These tools include Unity Sentis, the company’s AI tool, which will be available for free to all users. Unity Personal users will also have access to new free tiers for the Unity Asset Manager. As part of these changes, Unity Plus will be retired, and developers will be offered a discounted Unity Pro subscription as a replacement.

Disunity Among Developers

News of the new fees has sparked frustration among developers who have chosen Unity specifically for its lack of cost. While the revenue threshold alleviates some fears of massive fees for free-to-play developers, the reaction to Unity’s announcement has been overwhelmingly negative.

Unity’s recent merger with monetization platform ironSource was seen as a move to improve the company’s financials, and its record revenue further supports this claim. However, there is still skepticism about the motivation behind these changes.