Unity has officially apologized to the game development community and announced new guidelines for Unity Engine’s monetization. Here are the details:
– Users of the free Unity Personal engine will not be charged any runtime fees. They can now earn up to $200,000 from games using Unity Personal, instead of the previous limit of $100,000. Additionally, the requirement to display the “Made with Unity” screen has been lifted.
– Users of Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise now have new monetization conditions:
– Games that need to pay runtime fees must have generated over $1 million in revenue in the past 12 months and have more than 1 million new players. Both conditions must be met. Fees will not be charged if these criteria are not fulfilled.
– Runtime fees will start with the LTS version expected to be released in 2024. Existing games or games currently in development will not incur any fees unless the engine is upgraded for older games.
– Developers can choose to calculate fees either as a percentage (2.5%) of their revenue or based on the number of new players engaging with their games each month. Unity will charge the lesser amount.
– Developers are responsible for reporting their revenue and the number of new players, using their own data and not relying on Unity’s figures.
In terms of specifics, Unity has also stopped counting installations as a measure of engagement. Instead, they now use the term “initial engagement,” which refers to a player’s first download or playthrough in any given channel. This excludes players who infringe copyright, bots employed by their own company, and repeat players who uninstall and reinstall the game multiple times. More information can be found on Unity’s website.
Regarding the runtime fee calculation based on initial engagement, countries are still divided into two groups. Group A, which includes developed countries like the United States, Europe, Japan, and South Korea, starts with a base price of $0.15 per player and decreases as the number of players increases. Other countries, including Thailand, fall into Group B, with a starting price of $0.01 per player.
TLDR: Unity has apologized to the game development community and introduced new guidelines for monetizing Unity Engine. Free users won’t be charged runtime fees and can now earn up to $200,000. Pro and Enterprise users face revised conditions, requiring revenue of $1 million and 1 million new players to incur runtime fees. Runtime fees will start with the 2024 LTS version. Developers can choose to pay a percentage (2.5%) of revenue or based on the number of new players each month. Unity will charge the lesser amount. Developers self-report their revenue and new player numbers. Installations are no longer counted; instead, “initial engagement” is used. Pricing for initial engagement varies between developed and other countries, starting at $0.15 and $0.01 per player, respectively.
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