Unity Cancels its Runtime Fee Following Backlash From Game Developers

Unity announced today that it was canceling its controversial Runtime Fee for game developers based on game installations. The controversial fee, which applied to games crossing a certain revenue threshold, was introduced last year and was immediately met with a huge backlash from developers.

For those unfamiliar, Unity is a cross-platform game engine that became really popular among independent developers.  And these same developers felt betrayed last year when the game engine they were relying on suddenly made their business potentially unsustainable.

“After deep consultation with our community, customers, and partners, we’ve made the decision to cancel the Runtime Fee for our games customers, effective immediately. Non-gaming Industry customers are not impacted by this modification,” said Matt Bromberg, the President and CEO of Unity today.

Unity previously agreed to make some changes to its Runtime Fee to win developers back, but that apparently wasn’t enough. John Riccitiello, the previous CEO of Unity left the company in October, and Unity also had to lay off 25% of its workforce in January.

If Unity backtracking on its Runtime Fee should be good news for developers, its new CEO also announced price increases for the Unity Pro and Enterprise subscriptions. According to the exec, that’s the only way to create a “strong Unity” that its customers can trust again.

“We want to deliver value at a fair price in the right way so that you will continue to feel comfortable building your business over the long term with Unity as your partner. And we’re confident that if we’re good partners and deliver great software and services, we’ve barely scratched the surface of what we can do together,” Bromberg said.

Starting on January 1, 2025, the price of the Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise subscriptions will increase by 8% and 25%, respectively. However, the Unity Personal tier will remain free to use, and Unity will also double its revenue and funding ceiling from $100,000 to $200,000.