Our thoughts on the Unity Runtime Fee
On the 12th of September, Unity (the engine we use to make TaleSpire) announced that they'd soon be taking a fee from developers for every copy of the game installed over a certain threshold - regardless of how that copy was obtained, and despite them having no reliable way to ascertain the number of installs.
This is our response to that announcement.
Like so many of you, we have been watching the Unity "Runtime Fee" situation unfold with confusion, disappointment, and disgust.
To be clear, we are not immediately affected, and TaleSpire is not going anywhere. However, this is not why we, like many in the community, are angry.
As others have perfectly elucidated, the fact that Unity would even attempt this makes them an actor that, as it stands, cannot be trusted.
We sincerely hope that Unity, at a bare minimum, rolls back these changes and puts TOS protections in place. However, it remains hard to see how the community can move forward without Unity removing the people who championed this debacle.
Despite us having used Unity since 2009, we will be keeping an eye on alternate technologies to ensure our longer-term future. In the short term, we are treating code that ties us closer to Unity as a potential risk and will manage that risk accordingly.
This is the second time this year that a massive player in our space has attempted to wield legal changes to bring a thriving community to heel. It is tough to see how divorced the heads of these behemoths have become from the simple joys of making and storytelling that their companies were ostensibly born to facilitate.
It serves us all to remind them that the systems serve the people, not the other way around.
Happy adventuring, folks.
Further reading:
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·[Update 09/12/2023 - 6:29pm: Unity is walking back some aspects of the runtime fee amid escalating anger from developers. According to Axios, the fee will now only apply to the initial installation of game and that developers are not on the hook for installations through Xbox Game Pass, with fees instead being passed to platform holders like Xbox. Demos will also not be affected unless they are part of a demo that includes the full game. Games offered in charity bundles will be exempt from fees." Unity executive Marc Whitten claims only 10 percent of developers will be impacted by the fees.]