1y ago

Unity will quietly waive controversial fees if developers switch to its ad monetisation service - report

www.eurogamer.net Unity will quietly waive controversial fees if developers switch to its ad monetisation service - report

A fresh report into Unity's hugely-controversial decision to start charging developers when their games are downloaded …

A fresh report into Unity's hugely-controversial decision to start charging developers when their games are downloaded has thrown fresh light on the situation.

MobileGamer sources say Unity has already offered some studios a 100% fee waiver - if they switch over to Unity's own LevelPlay ad platform.

The report quotes industry consultants that say this move is an "attempt to destroy" Unity's main competitior in this field: AppLovin.

Gaming @lemmy.zip

BrikoX @lemmy.zip

1y ago

Unity will quietly waive fees if developers switch to its ad monetisation

www.eurogamer.net /unity-will-quietly-waive-controversial-fees-if-developers-switch-to-its-ad-monetisation-service-report

2 3

PC Gaming @kbin.social

geosoco @kbin.social

1y ago

Unity will quietly waive controversial fees if developers switch to its ad monetisation service - report

www.eurogamer.net /unity-will-quietly-waive-controversial-fees-if-developers-switch-to-its-ad-monetisation-service-report

24 4

Games @sh.itjust.works

geosoco @kbin.social

1y ago

Unity will quietly waive controversial fees if developers switch to its ad monetisation service - report

www.eurogamer.net /unity-will-quietly-waive-controversial-fees-if-developers-switch-to-its-ad-monetisation-service-report

158 40

77 comments

Why's it always end up being fucking ads?
I hate late stage capitalism. I want off Mr. Bones' Wild Ride.
- Shareholders prefer constant steady income over one time purchases. Hence why they prefer subscriptions and ads.
  
  Well... Peasants need this hot thing called voting with your feet and money...
  Amazing things can be done esp in 100% discretionary sectors.
  But nahh...
  
  I know they do, and I hate it so so much...
  
  That's why I'm gonna buy Procreate Dreams even if I'm not an animator.
  
  Well yeah. Subscriptions make a shitload of money compared to a one-time payment.
- The ride never ends
- It's either ads or crabs
  
  Tortoises?

Don’t you just love when a company creates a problem just to go and try to sell the solution?
- It looks like a protection racket with extra steps. An unpleasant solution presented by the problem creator. Why is this not banned?
- Game design 101 since the first smart phone.
  
  IBM sure does suck donkey balls but I really don't think that particular thing is their fault.

Game devs: "No thanks, we're waiving the fees by using a different engine."
- I'd imagine that game devs, just like Unity's shareholders, like predictability in profits. Even if it's more expensive overall for them to move to Unreal for their next game, it could be worth it to avoid future calamity.
  
  The problem is because you pay per install you could end up owing Unity more money than you actually make. Especially if people uninstall and reinstall your game a bunch of times for whatever reason.

Lol nope. Not even fucking close. You’re gonna die, Unity. You have only yourself to blame.
- Ooh yeah FOSS forever!

Screw this. Boycott unity.

The conspiracy theorist in me says Unity planned this whole thing out to get less resistance on this thing they actually wanted to roll out; announce a super shit change that will intentionally outrage everybody, then say “ok, we won’t do it if you agree to use this other shitty model instead”.
Anyways, big shoutout to Godot for existing as an open-source alternative.
- That's not a conspiracy theory that's like entry level MBA stuff.

There should be a law against offering something for free for a long time, until many other businesses rely on it then make it pay to a point of breaking all those businesses. It’s one thing changing the price of a product that’s customer facing but if you market to other businesses that’s not okay. I guess it’s up to businesses to look in the contract for a clause that states that the product will be free forever or that they need X time warning before making it pay.
- Tech companies wouldn't exist. It's literally most of their business plans.
  
  Good.
- Changing from free to paid is fine. Doing it retroactively is not.
  Once a game is in development using their product the terms need to stay the same.
- I disagree. If you state that it’s free until X bench make and you make the change after that benchmark it’s fine. If you don’t, then users should be able to seek compensation
- The vast majority of “new” tech companies operate at a loss.
  This is a bullshit hypothetical that has no relevance for Unity. Unity is a well established company, that has been very successful after they revised their model to be more Indie friendly. This is a money grab attempt pure and simple. And it's a money grab that is so bad it might actually kill Unity.
  
  My problem with it is not monetizing; it is the changing of your monetization to affect games that were sold under a different model. If this was just the new TOS, ok fine. It would suck, but it's their right to make whatever shitty monetization they want. But retroactively inflicting this on games? Shocking the development world with only a few months warning when game development takes years? No, that is not ok.

Hey remember that time Unity bought IronSource so they could integrate ads more aggressively? Unity stopped being a game engine at some point they're just an ads company now

This is such a dumb move.
Forget about ethics for a minute, if there is an alternate option that doesn't cost as much money then developers would obviously make use of that option so in any environment where alternate options exist companies have a limit of how obnoxious they can be and get away with it.
Somehow unity forgot that Unreal and Godot exist.
- Honestly, if I had any stake in them I'd be wondering why Unity is so desperate for money.
  
  Every tech company is desperate for money right now. Funding isn’t coming in at the same rate it did for the last 10 years and now everyone is desperately trying to make a profit.

I’m pretty sure this is just unequivocally worse. This is how Ads end up in paid games. Unity is speed running their complete collapse as the dominant player in the market.

Elon Musk: speedruns enshittification on Xitter
Unity: "Hold my beer"
- It's enshittification all the way down

That's worse, you fucking assholes.
- The first one was assholish, but this one is outright insulting.

AppLovin? What kind of a stupid name is that? What, are they trying to be an Irish R&B singer?
- It was either that or Mohammed
  
  I heard it could've been Aladeen, but they didn't know if it was too positive or negative.
- They hired the same marketing firm to come up with a name that McDonalds' used.

Time to polish off my unreal dev skills, something tells me those jobs about to be hot.
- Better off with Godot
  
  No, I'd be better off polishing off my existing skills using a technology that currently holds a significant market share in the industry.

Unity have yet to discover that nothing happens quietly on the internet.

And so continues the downward spiral of the enshitification of video games.

Fuck unity. Use anything but unity.
- The closest competitor is, what, Unreal Engine? That's more costly.
  
  Godot

How many times are developers going to put up with being used as sticks for one group of rich assholes to whack a different group of rich assholes with before we start supporting open platforms?

Fuck you, Unity.

Dirtbags. Compared to Godot, what incentive do people have to stay with this trash?
- Being already well into development of a game in it.

say this move is an "attempt to destroy" Unity's main competitior in this field: AppLovin.
This is the best advertisment ever. I've messed around in Unity a few times and would've recommended to people interested in a framework. But I guess I got a new platform to talk about.

And there's the two-step. Don't come right out with what you want. Come out with a bad option, then switch over to the option you wanted when everyone complains.

I think among us 2 just restarted development, what a shame exactly 0 cents with go to unity

77 comments