Developers of indie puzzle game Orgynizer have claimed that Unity said organisations like Planned Parenthood are “not valid charities” and are instead “political groups.”
In a blog post, the EU-based developer LizardFactory said the plans to charge developers up to $0.20 per install if they reach certain thresholds would cost them “around 30% of the funds we have gathered and already sent to charity.”
As Unity clarified the runtime fee will not apply to charity games, LizardFactory reached out to the company to clarify their game would be exempt from the plan.
However, Unity reportedly said their partners were not “valid charities” and were viewed as “political groups.”
Profits made from the game go directly to non-profit organisation Planned Parenthood and C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Michigan.
“We did this to raise money for a good cause, not to line the coffers of greedy scumbags,” the developers wrote in a blog post. “We have been solid Unity fanboys for over ten years, but the trust is scattered all over the floor.”
The developers are considering a move to open-source game engine Godot, “but we will have to recode our entire game because we refuse to give you a dime,” they wrote. “This is a mafia-style shakedown, nothing more, nothing less.”
Today, Unity responded to the ongoing backlash and apologised, acknowledging the “confusion and angst” surrounding the runtime fee policy.
The company has promised that changes to the policy will be shared in “a couple of days.”
At this point? Fuck Unity!
Yes even if they backpedal no one knows if they don’t try something again in the future. So everyone who can switch to a different engine should do so.
Trust is broken now. If they can just drop a new charge like this when ever they want how can you possibly plan a business around it.
After all this would there really be any reason to use them especially when Unreal has just been crushing it lately with lumen, nanite, etc.
I’ve used unreal professionally for 10 years. It’s not very good for smaller teams. There is plenty of reason to pick another engine over it. Unreal is great for medium to large studios. 15 people or more. It can absolutely be used with less but the pain of doing so it’s more apparent.
Also before this whole unity fee change, unity was cheaper than unreal. Although I’ve always skipped over it because I want source access.