Unity apologises for ‘runtime fee,’ promises changes

We have heard you. We apologize for the confusion and angst the runtime fee policy we announced on Tuesday caused. We are listening, talking to our team members, community, customers, and partners, and will be making changes to the policy. We will share an update in a couple of…

— Unity (@unity) September 17, 2023

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Unity has now apologised for the new ‘Runtime Fee’ and said they are talking to their customers, members and partners to make changes to the policy. However, the post did not share any details if the policy would be scrapped altogether or if Unity would charge less per installation.

Why are so many gaming studios protesting against Unity’s ‘Runtime Fee’ policy?

Unity’s Runtime Fee policy states that gaming studios will be charged $0.20 per installation for games with more than 2,00,000 installs at the top level. While this might not sound like a significant amount, many indie game developers and small studios use Unity’s easy-to-use game engine to develop their games and make money. Some developers say the new policy will severely hurt their already thin profit margins and incur a significant fee they may not be able to bear.

When the company introduced the controversial ‘Runtime Fee’ policy, the gaming studios asked Unity how they would pin down the exact number of installations and if they would be charged multiple times if someone installed, uninstalled and reinstalled a particular game since Unity also did not make it clear how it would differentiate a valid download from an invalid one. The company also said that installing a game on multiple devices will also be subject to fees.

Another issue is that if a game is downloaded more times than it has been purchased, the developer will be forced to pay based on the number of downloads, affecting their overall revenue.

Among Us is a popular game developed using the Unity game engine. (Image Source: Inner Sloth)

Unity tried to play down the situation by saying that it would only count ‘net new installs’ and that only 10 per cent of customers would be affected by the change, but the protest continues in full swing.

According to a recent report by The Verge, 19 companies have put out an open letter asking Unity to reverse its updated pricing model while turning off all IronSource and Unity Ads monetisation across all their projects until these changes are reconsidered. These companies, which have thousands of games with billions of downloads, have now effectively stopped Unity from making more money from their games.

While some developers say they will never use Unity again if the new runtime fee policy goes live, others say they will port their existing projects to a new game engine. Rust 2 developer FacePunch Studios says money is not an issue for them, but Unity changing rules without consulting or informing them is the problem.

Earlier this year, Unity introduced a new terms of service agreement removing a clause that allowed developers to stick to an older TOS while introducing a brand-new clause that suggested the company will soon introduce runtime fees.