Hello! I think you can tell what this post is gonna be about based on the title...

What happened?

For those of you who are unaware, I'll catch you up to speed. Long story short, Unity has decided, starting January 2024, to introduce a new "runtime fee" which means that, with each install of a new game, we developers would have to pay Unity a fee of $0.20 per install (that's about 16p for me). This will even apply to games made before January 2024! The only saving grace, if you can even call it that, is the fact that, in order to pay this fee, you have to:

• Have made at least $200,000 (£160,120) or more in the last 12 months

• AND have 200,000 lifetime installs.

While this does mean that most developers (including those who make exclusively free games) are unaffected, many will have to start paying ludicrous fees if they have successful games. In other words, they're being charged for being successful.

My thoughts...

I don't really think there's much I can say that hasn't already been said. While, sure, this is unlikely to affect me, it's still a disgustingly slimy thing for Unity to do and it has actively discouraged me from making any paid projects in the future! It's destroyed the trust Unity has from developers and it's no surprise that many developers are drifting away to Godot or Unreal.

Not to mention that the post Unity put out about these changes was quite vague about how they're actually going to track this kind of thing. They assured some developers that they have systems in place to check if someone's pirated a game but I doubt that somehow. Also, they've confirmed that if someone installs, deletes, then re-installs a game, that classes as two installs. $0.40 out of the developer's pockets. That will add up very quickly and opens the door to malicious parties mass install-deleting games to bankrupt developers they don't like. It's scary.

So what about me?

So what am I going to do? Well, as I mentioned in my previous update, I'm currently working on a game called VortexOS. I've been working on it now for nearly a full year and it's very nearly complete which just makes this whole update sting even more. That being said, here's what's going to happen.

The release of VortexOS is not going to change. I'm going to finish the game and release it. The game will release for about £4.99 when it's done (price subject to change) and will have a free demo so you can try before you buy. The reason I'm still going to release it, even after these ridiculous changes, is because the last thing I want is to have the last year of work go to waste. Plus, I doubt the game will have nearly the success needed to reach that $200,000/year and 200,000 plays threshold needed to start paying the fee. I would rather release a project and it flop than not release anything and have the last year be a waste.

Regarding future projects, I will probably be continuing to use Unity since it's the engine I am most familiar with and, while it would be beneficial to learn a new language, I am not prepared to take another three year break just to learn a new engine just yet. I have spent the last 4 years learning Unity, I don't want those skills and that time going to waste now. Unfortunately, these new changes will mean that all future games will most likely be free or pay what you want AND the number of games I make may be significantly reduced. As of right now though, it's tough to say. Once VortexOS is out, however, I will most definitely be taking a break from Unity to see if they sort their stuff out...

Summary

So, in summary, Unity has made some stupid decisions and, while VortexOS' development and release will remain unaffected, I'm not sure what's going to happen in the future and will most likely take a break until the smoke clears and we know for certain what's going to happen.

Bit of a bummer of an update but hey, can't be helped! At least I've got another game that's gonna be done soon so there's that, I guess!

-Harry