Unity finally backtracked on its proposed runtime fee announced earlier this month. After apologizing last Monday, it promised to rework the monetization scheme, incorporating community feedback. By.
TL;DR: As predicted, Unity has changed course on its Unity Runtime Fee after severe backlash from the community and weeks of bad press. It reformulated the maligned monetization plan in a way that many developers find satisfactory. The new revenue-sharing scheme will kick in with the next LTS version of Unity in 2024.
Unity finally backtracked on its proposed runtime fee announced earlier this month. After apologizing last Monday, it promised to rework the monetization scheme, incorporating community feedback. By Friday, the company had another apology for the fiasco, and an alternative pricing solution with significant changes.
„I want to start with simply this: I am sorry,“ Unity Create head Marc Whitten wrote in an open letter to the community. „We should have spoken with more of you, and we should have incorporated more of your feedback before announcing our new Runtime Fee policy.“
Initial reactions to the changes seem generally positive. Not everyone is happy about it, but there were no death threats this time.
