Tentative changes to Unity’s controversial install fee policy have leaked

Unity executives have reportedly told staff how the company intends to backtrack on some elements of its controversial install fee policy.

Last week the software development company announced plans to charge developers every time a game that uses its Unity engine is installed.

Starting in January 2024, the proposed Unity Runtime Fee would apply to games that meet a minimum revenue threshold and have passed a minimum lifetime install count.

Following a huge backlash from game developers, on Sunday Unity issued an apology and said it planned to make changes to the policy which it would communicate in the coming days.

According to Bloomberg, Unity staff were informed of tentative changes to the policy during an all-hands meeting on Monday. They include:

• Limiting fees to 4% of a game’s revenue over $1 million.
• Installations counted toward reaching the threshold will no longer be retroactive.
• Installations will no longer be tracked by proprietary tools. Instead, Unity will rely on users to self-report the data.

“I don’t think there’s any version of this that would have gone down a whole lot differently than what happened,” Unity CEO John Riccitiello claimed during today’s meeting. “It is a massively transformational change to our business model.”

However, he acknowledged, “I think we could have done a lot of things a lot better.”

Last week Unity closed two offices and cancelled a planned town hall meeting following what was reportedly a “credible death threat”.