Unity apologizes to devs and backpedals on controversial Runtime Fee

Unity angered developers earlier this month when it unveiled new monetization plans that would see developers charged a “Unity Runtime Fee.” After a considerable backlash, an alleged death threat, and an apology for the “confusion and angst” caused, Unity Technologies has now partially walked back some of those initial plans.

In an open letter to the community, Unity’s Marc Whitten said, “I am sorry. We should have spoken with more of you, and we should have incorporated more of your feedback before announcing our new Runtime Fee policy. Our goal with this policy is to ensure we can continue to support you today and tomorrow, and keep deeply investing in our game engine.”

Whitten says Unity will not charge developers a Runtime Fee for games built using Unity Personal or Plus plans and that the fee will only apply to Pro and Enterprise users. It will also not charge developers for any existing games, and only games “created with or upgraded to the Long Term Support (LTS) version releasing in 2024 (or later), currently referred to as the 2023 LTS will be impacted.” For those games, developers will only be charged a Runtime Fee after a game has crossed two thresholds: $1,000,000 (USD) in gross revenue (trailing 12 months) and 1,000,000 initial engagements. Developers can then choose to pay the Runtime Fee, “either based on monthly initial engagements or 2.5% of your game’s monthly gross revenue.” Unity says developers will be charged the lesser of the two.

“You are what makes Unity great, and we know we need to listen, and work hard to earn your trust,” Whitten said. “We have heard your concerns, and we are making changes in the policy we announced to address them.”

Reactions to the news from developers is mixed. Developer Aggro Crab appeared happy with the change, saying ion X, “Is it perfect? No! But at least we can all ship our games with peace of mind and make an informed decision for the next one.”

Other developers, such as Gloomwood’s Dillon Rogers, say the debacle has damaged their trust with the company. “This has the important element I wanted, which is that Gloomwood won’t be affected by the new fees as it’s on a previous Unity version. However, nothing they could have written would repair the damage to my trust,” Rogers said.