Unity reveals plans to charge per game install, drawing criticism from development community

UPDATE 11.45pm: As fury among developers continues to mount following Unity's dramatic changes to its Unity Engine business model, the company has taken to social media to "provide clarifying answers to the top questions" being asked.

"Yes, this is a price increase and it will only affect a small subset of current Unity Editor users," the company insisted in its statement. "Today, a large majority of Unity Editor users are currently not paying anything and will not be affected by this change. The Unity Runtime fee will not impact the majority of our developers.

"The developers who will be impacted are generally those who have successful games and are generating revenue way above the thresholds we outlined in our blog. This means that developers who are still building their business and growing the audience of their games will not pay a fee. The program was designed specifically this way to ensure developers could find success before the install fee takes effect."

Unity has also clarified the changes are "not retroactive or perpetual", noting it will only "charge once for a new install" made after 1st January 2024. However, while it won't be charging for previously made installs, fees do indeed apply to all games currently on the market, meaning should any existing player of an older game that exceeds Unity's various thresholds decide to re-install it after 1st January, a charge will still be made.