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Unity introduces new fees for game devs based on revenue and game installs https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/09/unity-introduces-new-fees-for-game-devs-based-on-revenue-and-game-installs/
The more I think on it, the worse it sounds. How exactly are they tracking installs? We need it to be clear on what they're tracking, otherwise that's a big privacy red flag.
And how accurate will it be? What about pirated installs? Charity keys? Etc. So many bits unclear.
@gamingonlinux What about me installing it on my PC and my Deck? Will it cost twice?
Even worse: What about me RE-installing it every two weeks because <reasons>? Will every NEW install cost extra?
@ben they must be sending some identifier I assume, but like what exactly?
@gamingonlinux @ben And what about me installing it on the Deck, formatting the Deck and installing it again?
@gamingonlinux @ben Like if they are tracking accounts, then what if your game isn't part of a store ecosystem, or if you install a game using steam and itch.io? If they are tracking both devices and accounts, then it incentivizes devs towards using a store API which feels gross. This kinda game tracking works for game pass cause microsoft has tight controls on making sure it stays within that ecosystem, but that is on a game-by-game basis not in the engines themselves. Wait, how the fuck is this going to work with game pass?
@gamingonlinux @ben Okay I think I got it, if you sell a game - while its previous 12 month revenue is over the threshold and if its total lifetime installs are over the threshold, then you pay per install; if the revenue drops below the threshold (cause time moves forward) then you stop paying the fee, but if it goes back up - then you pay it again. So this is so fucking stupid and I am not even a unity dev, I mostly focus on godot.
1) What does per project/game revenue mean? What about people like chillas art whose games are supported through patreon and there isnt direct monetization of the game?
2) What if you had a spike of sales 10 months ago and have spent the money?
3) It seems it'll integrate with app stores on mobile to track installs - what about multiple accounts on the same device?
4) This is an avenue to attack devs, even based on details released and all thier caveats, I could write a bot to trigger this fee once I realize a flash in the pan game happened a few months ago. You can never advertise sales numbers again if you use unity and will likely have to pull it to stop installs. Like this kills any situation like what happened to among us
5) Thier answer about piracy was so stupid, they say the ad industry has already dealt with a simliar issue, but that means introducing similiar fingerprinting to the engine - which doesnt work! The only reason it works for web ads is because of web browsers and the nature of web tech - and even then fuck making every game become a finger of the unity corporation. I will just stop buying unity games - cause if thats true they aren't <studios> game they are <studios> game made with unity.