Developer Massive Monster has suggested that, thanks to Unity’s recently-announced new pricing model, the studio will be deleting Cult of the Lamb from Steam on January 1. While the studio might be joking with the announcement, a similar sentiment has been shared by other studios as well thanks to the overwhelmingly negative response garnered by Unity Engine’s new policies.
As part of a new pricing model set to go live on January 1, games making use of the Unity Engine will have to pay the engine’s parent company $0.20 any time the game is installed. Unity has also stated that this new pricing model will be applied retroactively, and older games running on the engine will also have to pay the installation costs.
Criticisms of Unity’s new pricing policy also point out how the company hasn’t revealed enough details, including how it could track whether games are part of a charity bundle (which would make it exempt from the installation costs), how it would be able to distinguish between legitimate installations and pirated copies, or how difficult it would be for hackers to modify the number of installs.
Rust developer Facepunch Studios has also published a post on its blog talking about how the engine maker has betrayed the trust of several developers, and how the sequel to Rust will not be made using Unity. Among Us developer Innersloth has similarly stated that it will be moving the game to another engine.
Considering the fact that many major publishers and developers also make use of Unity Engine aside from indie studios, it will be interesting to see the response of companies like Microsoft, EA, Nintendo, and Sony to Unity’s new policy, which could negatively impact developers wanting to bring games to consoles or subscription services like Game Pass.
https://twitter.com/cultofthelamb/status/1701715971663425897
https://twitter.com/InnerslothDevs/status/1701731398498013575
Today we announced a change to our business model which includes new additions to our subscription plans, and the introduction of a Runtime fee. We wanted to provide clarifying answers to the top questions most of you are asking.
Yes, this is a price increase and it will only…
— Unity (@unity) September 12, 2023
