Unity has finally answered one of the biggest questions developers had about the new pricing model

After Unity announced, tweaked and re-announced its new graphics software, the video game development community wanted to know how and why this disastrous launch happened. Also The news was posted Friday by Mark Whitten, president of Unity CreateAs kept Live Fireside Chat on YouTube It has addressed some of society’s biggest questions and concerns.

The first thing Whitton did in his letter and during the conversation was to apologize.

“I just want to apologize,” Whitten said during his Q&A session with YouTube creator Jason Wyman, known for his Unity tutorials. “It’s clear that we didn’t get enough feedback before launching the program.”

One of the first and most important questions asked since Unity’s initial announcement has also circulated on social media: “Why?” Why add to Unity’s existing pricing plan — a tiered, subscription-based service — something that was quickly becoming universally loathed and was quickly withdrawn?

“That’s the most important thing we’re trying to do [build] “Sustainable action for unity,” Whiten replied. He said the term fee was intended as a “balanced exchange” between Unity and its users that would bring about some form of “shared success”.

Additionally, the new plan now offers developers a choice. You can pay either “an amount based on how many new people interact with your game each month” or a flat percentage of 2.5 percent of gross sales, whichever is lower.

(Neither the letter nor the Q&A specifies what this “calculated amount” means, and edges He contacted the unit for clarification.)

Whitten’s answer touched on another big “why” question from developers: Why didn’t Unity offer a revenue sharing plan in the first place?

“We’re trying to create a model that we think represents fair and good value that works for games once they have a certain level of success,” Whitten said.

He explained that the “pay-per-install” plan is a way for Unity to tie the quality of the software to the high-performance games that use it, and in most cases it’s better to pay the “charged amount”. Developers paid as Unity, who only took a 2.5 percent cut off the top.

“We believe this happens in a very reasonable number of cases [the calculated amount is] “Actually less, and we think that’s a good thing,” Whitten said.

However, Whiten admitted that the company received feedback that implementing such a program would make it difficult for developers to plan their budgets, should the game become a hit. Whiten said offering a revenue sharing program is a way to give developers more flexibility so they always have an idea of ​​what they’re owed while giving them a choice of how they want to be paid.

Originally, the term fee was a way for Unity to generate additional revenue from high-performing games – a sort of “we won’t pay if you don’t” model. However, the company has cast a very wide net when it comes to how much developers need to earn before they start paying, while unilaterally deciding how to pay affected developers.

The new plan simultaneously reduces the number of developers that have to pay fees while also providing new options for how those developers pay those fees.

Currently, this plan only affects games that have generated $1 million or more in revenue in the last 12 months and have had one million or more “new user interactions.”

Stocks were presented as a metric in Whitten’s letter, but not clearly defined. In the Q&A session, Whiten elaborated on the meaning of “syndication,” defining it as “legitimate users of your software in a specific distribution channel.” These links are also reported by developers.

He explained that a legitimate user is someone who has not pirated or redeemed a game purchased through a distribution channel, through in-store purchases, or through the use of subscription services. He also clarified that the transfer was for first-time use and hence no one is involved in downloading previously purchased games to a new device.

“Our goal is very simple,” Whitten said. “And it’s the first time using our runtime that your game will interact with a very legitimate user in a distribution channel – use it as an account.”

Unity’s Terms of Service – or ToS – was another big topic that dominated the Q&A session. In 2019 Unity has created a dedicated GitHub page to track changes to its Terms of Service. However, this page was quietly deleted before the new uptime fee was imposed. Developers were outraged by this and saw Unity as a departure from its previous commitment to transparency.

On social media, the official Unity account offered an interesting, if highly unsatisfactory, explanation for why the company deleted its ToS GitHub page:

“I’m really disappointed with the way the online TOS removal process is worded.” The module was released on X (formerly Twitter).. “We removed it before the price change was announced because the view count was too low, not because we didn’t want people to see it.”

During the Q&A session, Whitten admitted that he actually knew nothing about the GitHub page until recently. But he said so The page has been restored Unity will continue to update its Terms of Use on its website. Additionally, as part of this new plan, Unity said it will once again include in its terms the ability for developers to lock down the terms of service to match their version of Unity.

“People need to know that when they start using a version of Unity they can rely on certain conditions,” Whitten said. “So we’re going to make sure of that.”

It also asked what, if anything, would prevent Unity from changing its terms of service again. The company has not yet updated its terms of service to include the ability to “lock out” a particular version of the terms of service. While this is a welcome addition to the price update, the truth is that there is nothing stopping Unity from changing its terms again.

Basically all developers have confidence that Unity won’t do that.

“I have written this letter and will not take it down [that] “The letter says the company will commit to it if I don’t believe it,” Whitten said.

Despite all these changes and rollbacks, it will be difficult for Unity to regain user trust, and it has already happened quite a few Report I say so too.

“I’m committed to making sure we continue to work as hard as possible to earn your trust,” Whitten said. He also said that this can only be done through “deeds, not words”.

Unity’s adoption of a flexible payment model, updating its terms of service and republishing its GitHub page are all actions aimed at restoring trust, Whitten explained. Ultimately, Whiten acknowledged, it will be up to the community to decide whether these measures are sufficient.

“I can’t ask you to believe me,” Whitten said. “You have to decide for yourself.”