85
Unity to Cap Runtime Fee to 4% of Revenue Over $1M, Users Will Self-Report Figures (wccftech.com)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/games@sh.itjust.works
43 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The overhauled Runtime Fee policy plan being considered by Unity Technologies will cap the fee to 4% of the game's revenues over $1 million.

...

While the changes aren't official yet, Bloomberg got hold of a meeting recording where Unity executives outlined the new plan, which reportedly caps the Runtime Fee at 4% of the game's revenues over one million dollars. Developers will also be asked to report the installation figures themselves instead of being forced to deal with Unity's proprietary technology. Lastly, the installation threshold won't be retroactive, so only new installations made after the policy's announcement will count toward reaching the Runtime Fee thresholds.

...

all 47 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 78 points 3 years ago (16 children)
  1. Company makes wildly negative changes
  2. Public outcry occurs
  3. Company walks back overwhelmingly negative parts of the deal to what they originally intended to happen
  4. The public is placated into thinking they won the fight

We're at step 3, y'all

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 16 child comments
    •
  • [–] 46 points 3 years ago* (7 children)

    Yeah and it won't work this time.

    Unity is B2B, they tried to change the deal retrospectively. That's toxic to a business relationship, it's not viable to do business with such a company because they may try to do it again.

    The only thing they can do now is fire the CEO.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
    •
  • [–] 16 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    Or add a clause to the TOS banning retroactive updates of TOS to existing games.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 8 points 3 years ago*

    Which is exactly the plan. Short term cash boost and loss of trust followed by a new CEO who builds that trust again. Rinse and repeat.

    The current CEO gets a golden parachute and the investors get some quick cash and likely buy more stock when the value falls.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 17 points 3 years ago (7 children)

    I mean you definitely got a point, but don't forget that there are long term consequences. The trust is completely gone (which is needed if you invest in this game engine and you will probably see the unity market share drop in the coming year.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
    •
  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    But don't you think that pretty much this debacle resembles Reddit and by now most of the users are back to their platform, exactly what they wanted.

    Only the nerds and some mods left their platform permanently but percentage wise the number is probably very low and now Reddit is probably earning even more than before. So it is a win win situation for them.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago

    The big difference is Reddit isn't taking a portion of their wages. It was purely moral outrage.

    Things are different once money is involved.

    Choosing an engine is a business decision for a lot of people and using a free alternative that isn't quite as feature rich sure seems like the better option now.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago

    Idk why everyone is like "well Reddit won and we're just on Lemmy because we're nerds and no one believes in FOSS anyway". Yes, I get you, there's currently not much consequence visible for the Reddit debacle. I genuinely think we're in the middle of a slow and painful death to Reddit. A lot of big companies don't implode, but they die slowly in front of their competition. Yeah, currently we only are a fraction of users compared to Reddit, but if people truly believe in Lemmy as the better platform, this will be competition.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago*

    I agree- hopefully we can remember long enough for it to really matter in the long term. Just wanted to bring attention to this cycle because it's been happening a lot lately (Facebook, DnD, etc) and I think the companies are starting to copy eachother.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • [–] 54 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    Lastly, the installation threshold won’t be retroactive, so only new installations made after the policy’s announcement will count toward reaching the Runtime Fee thresholds.

    That's still retroactive though.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
    • [–] 48 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Unity in a few years when investors want money again

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
    • [–] 35 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    Still trying to shoehorn in a "runtime fee". That's not going to work and with this model it's pointless anyway. Just make it a 4% revenue for sales after $1 million. Same end results (actually potentially more in fees) without all the runtime issues. Make it apply only to a specific version and later and after a certain date and then you also don't have the retroactive problem and the massive blowback.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 16 points 3 years ago* (3 children)

    They're trying to monetize the free-to-play mobile market, which is much more lucrative than a percentage of the sales. Cunning bastards.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 10 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    It works for that market too even without install fees, you just make it a percentage of revenue generated from microtransactions. It's still tied to the game.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 0 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    For every paying customer, there are one thousand installations. A quick maths will tell you why they are trying so much to be paid for runtime.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 8 points 3 years ago*

    Quick math shows that's irrelevant with a 4% revenue cap, as I pointed out in my original comment, and at best they will be paid the same as just doing a 4% revenue fee. More likely they will get some amount less than 4% from most devs.

    The only reason I see for them going this route instead is to claim they are still royalty free, install fees aren't royalties. Which is BS anyway.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • [–] 31 points 3 years ago (9 children)

    You know whats better? Not reporting shit, I just published my game. I don't want to report a bunch of numbers to Unity each month. I want to push updates to fix issues my users are complaining about. How the fuck are the biggest chucklefucks in charge of every company? Give me the fucking reigns I can do better than this.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 9 child comments
    •
  • [–] 22 points 3 years ago

    I saw a theory from another lemmy user a while back that made a lot of sense. Basically shareholders get to a point where the want cash now. So they make a deal with the current CEO to do something shitty for short term profits. The shareholders get paid in the short term and then once the share price takes a hit they buy more shares at a discount. They then fire the current CEO who takes a nice exit fee and install someone else to do damage control and grow the stock price again. This is the only thing that makes sense to me because the alternative is that the current CEO is just actually that dumb.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 10 points 3 years ago

    For me the problem is that the shareholders are putting enormous pressure on publicly traded companies requiring ever lasting exponential growth.

    Back then I posted a thread about why I think publicly traded companies are bad for our society, as an unpopular opinion and I got severely downvoted, but hey isn't this another example for the latter?

    This SaaS model was born exactly out of this and it is the worst offender.

    Back then we were able to own our own software/hardware, now everything is leasing and perpetual paying for things you need/use everyday. Thank God we have foss apps that in most cases are better alternatives.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [+] 0 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (5 children)
    [deleted]
  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
    •
  • [–] 8 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    Wow, thats amazing! You know what is even more trivial? Not having to do it at all.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [+] 0 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (3 children)
    [deleted]
  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (2 children)

    I can when I didn't have to do it before and this policy is forced upon me by an established vendor. Thats like saying you can't bitch about material vendors in the construction industry, you absolutely can because they make your business work and you've entrusted them not to fuck you.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
    • [–] 30 points 3 years ago

    Hopefully development studios can hold strong and continue their boycott anyway. Backing down now basically means Unity got away with it, in a sense. Plus, companies are learning from each other's shitty tactics lately ala Twitter, Reddit, and Recently Facebook coming out with payment schemes on things that used to be free.

    So if Unity does this, other software companies will probably try some similar stuff.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 19 points 3 years ago*

    This changes nothing, unity. Fuck off. Fire your CEO and put in some real leadership.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 15 points 3 years ago

    "It's the craziest thing Unity™, I know people have bought my game, but I shit you not, not one person has actually installed it."

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 11 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    The games making over a million are the ones who can afford the new rates. This is so regressive. It should get more expensive as your sales go up, not down. Small devs should be charged less than big studios

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 13 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    The fee is zero for games making less than $1,000,000.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
    • [–] 7 points 3 years ago

    Can't put that "we have access to the data" toothpaste back in the tube I'm afraid.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •