Unity Announces Controversial Runtime Fee for Game Developers Based on Game Installs

Unity Technologies, the company behind the popular cross-platform game engine Unity made a seismic announcement yesterday. Starting on January 1, 2024, the company plans to introduce a new Unity Runtime Fee based on game installations that developers will need to pay once their Unity-based games cross a certain revenue threshold.

“We are introducing a Unity Runtime Fee that is based upon each time a qualifying game is downloaded by an end user. We chose this because each time a game is downloaded, the Unity Runtime is also installed. Also we believe that an initial install-based fee allows creators to keep the ongoing financial gains from player engagement, unlike a revenue share,” the company explained yesterday.

Currently, the Unity Runtime Fee will apply to games developed with the more affordable Unity Personal and Unity Plus plans after crossing $200,000 of revenue in 12 months and 200,000 lifetime game installs. For games developed with the more expensive Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise plans, the thresholds are $1 million in revenue in 12 months and 1 million lifetime installs.

Once these thresholds are met, the Unity Runtime Fee will be charged once per new install, and its amount will vary based on the number of new installs per month. The standard rate will go from $0.01 per install to $0.20, and there’s also a lower emerging market rate varying from $0.005 to $0.02 per install.

Since yesterday, many game developers using Unity have been arguing that this Unity Runtime Fee will make game development with this engine unsustainable. The main problem that appeared was that the Runtime Fee doesn’t take into account if a game was installed through a subscription service like Microsoft’s Game Pass.

Aggro Crab, an indie studio planning to make its next game available to download for the over 25 million Game Pass subscribers next year explained pretty bluntly why this Unity Runtime Fee could put the studio in jeopardy. “If a fraction of those users download our game, Unity could take a fee that puts an enormous dent in our income and threats the sustainability of our business. And that’s before we even think about sales on other platforms, or pirated installs of our game, or even multiple installs by the same user,” the developer explained.

SIGH pic.twitter.com/YgJEKGVQEI

— AGGRO CRAB (@AggroCrabGames) September 12, 2023

Marc Whitten, a former Xbox exec and the current President and General Manager of Unity has now clarified with Axios that developers won’t have to pay the Unity Runtime Fee every time a user reinstalls their Unity-based game. Only the initial installation will be taken into account, though an extra fee will apply if the same user installs the game on another device.

Whitten also said that the Unity Runtime Fee won’t apply to game demos (unless they’re part of a bundle that includes the full games) and games offered for charity. As for Unity-based games available on Game Pass and other game subscription services, Microsoft and other platform holders will have to pay the fees.

The Unity exec also said that he estimates that approximately 10% of game developers would need to pay the fees based on the current thresholds. Still, most game developers currently relying on the game engine will probably start to look at other alternatives.

Innersloth, the developer of the hit indie game Among Us posted yesterday that “If this goes through, we’d delay content and features our players actually want to port our game elsewhere (as others are also considering). But many developers won’t have the time or means to do the same.”