The mobile app development community has been left reeling by Unity's recent pricing model changes. In response, 19 companies have come together to protest the new fees and are now urging other developers to join them in their efforts.
One of the key issues with Unity's new pricing structure is the introduction of runtime fees. These fees will be charged to developers for each installation of a Unity game after specific download and revenue thresholds are met. While Unity claims that only 10% of its users will be affected, it remains unclear how they intend to track installs and differentiate between valid and invalid ones.
The collective action taken by these 19 companies is a significant escalation in the fight against Unity's new pricing model. By disabling Unity's ad monetization in their games, these companies are essentially blocking Unity from making any more money in their projects. This move represents thousands of games with billions of downloads, demonstrating the scale and impact of this protest.
The issue at hand is not just about money; it's also about transparency and trust. The new pricing model has sparked concerns among developers that Unity is breaching its own terms of service and values of transparency. In 2019, Unity committed to keeping users informed about changes to its terms of service, but this promise seems to have been broken with the introduction of runtime fees.
In a blog post from 2019, Unity stated that it would track changes to its terms of service on GitHub "to give developers full transparency about what changes are happening, and when." However, since then, Unity has deleted this GitHub repository, leaving developers in the dark about upcoming changes. This lack of transparency has led to a loss of trust among the developer community.
The impact of Unity's new pricing model will be felt across the mobile app development landscape. With the introduction of runtime fees, developers who are not generating sufficient income per user may be pushed to either migrate to alternative game engines or place greater emphasis on monetization at the expense of creating an immersive gaming experience.
As the debate continues, it remains to be seen how Unity will respond to the collective action taken by these 19 companies. One thing is certain, however - the mobile app development community is not going quietly into the night.