Game engine platform Unity recently announced that they will start charging developers per user download instead of a flat licensing fee.
Starting January 1 next year, developers will see a ‘Unity Runtime Fee’, which charges developers 20 cents per download after the initial 200,000 installs and $200,000 revenue threshold. This will apply to Unity Plus and Unity Personal users.
Understandably, the move drew backlash from developers, who were upset that it could ‘cost more than they earn from their games.’ Questions such as how the fee will apply to free games on popular platforms such as Epic Games can lead to more fees. Unity did respond by saying that the structure will ‘only affect a small subset of users’ and was designed to impact developers who have successful games.
The new fee structure for Unity Plus and Personal, as well as Unity Pro and Enterprise accounts are fully outlined in the official Unity website.
