(UPDATED) Unity Plans to Make Changes to the Controversial Install Fee Amidst Developer Backlash

Following the controversial plan to introduce a Runtime Fee that charges developers per game install, Unity has released a statement apologizing to the public and plans to make changes to the policy.

The statement was made on their official Twitter account, saying that they are considering changes to the controversial Runtime Fee policy following backlash from developers and details will be unveiled in the coming days.

UPDATE (25/09/23): Unity has announced changes to the policy.

According to a Bloomberg report, Unity will be introducing a tentative new plan that will limit the Runtime Fees to 4% of a game’s revenue after reaching $1 million USD.

Furthermore, Unity says that game installations counted toward meeting the threshold will no longer be retroactive.

“We have heard you. We apologize for the confusion and angst the runtime fee policy we announced on Tuesday caused,” said Unity in the official statement.

“We are listening, talking to our team members, community, customers, and partners, and will be making changes to the policy. We will share an update in a couple of days.”

“Thank you for your honest and critical feedback.”

Unity executive Marc Whitten informed Bloomberg that the company has yet to reveal the policy updates because executives are still confirming with partners and want to avoid repeating communication debacles such as last week’s pricing plan announcement.

Installation Tracking 

When Unity announced the Runtime Fee, many developers had concerns regarding how the technology company would track the game install counts, which Unity said it would use proprietary tools for the task.

However, Bloomberg reported that Unity executive Marc Whitten said the installation tracking would rely on users’ self-reported data instead.

“I don’t think there’s any version of this that would have gone down a whole lot differently than what happened,” said Unity CEO John Riccitiello during a meeting.

“It is a massively transformational change to our business model.”

“I think we could have done a lot of things a lot better.”

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