Unity Claims PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Will Pay Its New Runtime Fee On Behalf Of Devs

Microsoft learned never to leave an EA exec at the wheel ten years earlier, with the disastrous launch of the Xbox One. You know, the all seeing, all knowing, all credit card charging privacy invader with its hooks permanently sunk into the internet, and a camera you couldn't cover, like it was some motherfucking episode of Max Headroom. Allow me to say, "Fuck you, Don Mattrick, and the DRM and surveillance-laden horse you rode in on."

Good business model. I hope Gamepass wil also limit number of game user can install, like, pick only 4 in 100 or so

You're assuming Nintendo ever lawyers down

I'm sorry, but I'd be more terrified of Microsoft. A company worth more than nations, (current market cap puts it about the 10th richest country in the world), and who routinely tells other companies to pony up - and they do (look up a software audit if you want to see a corporate shakedown).

Going into a legal dick measuring match with 3 of the most hardcore litigious corps in the tech world.

Sounds smart.

If they aren't already paying royalties to Unity on behalf of the devs, then I can almost guarantee they won't be paying royalties in the future. If they are doing that, then the devs might want to double check their revenue, because that may mean that Unity's been double-dipping on royalties (taking royalties from distribution through Sony, MS and Nintendo, and then taking them again directly from the devs).

It’s like when CDPR said everyone could get refunds for CP2077 without talking to the stores first, then were shocked when Sony removed it from the PlayStation Store.

He could be the kind of person who writes things down on his vision board, then sends his thoughts out into the universe to make them come true. Like Elon.

That’s what happens when your CEO is an ex EA exec who thought that charging battlefield players a dollar to reload their gun was a good idea

Oh I don't think they imply they will cover the costs. More like the only ones to know exactly the installs will be them, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo , and that's why is done this way. Also to simplify the billing as well they already pay them for putting the game in their respective stores in one way or another.

Of course they could put a remote call that notified back to them in the game engine... and probably will work this way for PC, but probably the console companies might not be too happy about it.

Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft Lawyers united... that's an enemy you don't want to fight. Each department alone is scary enough. All three of them? Now, that's something you want to be on very solid ground for.

Also now Deva are gonna be skeptical of proprietary game engines. It's too big of a risk to develop on anything proprietary now that this is on the table as a thing that could happen. Change won't ahppen overnight but expect FOSS game engines to start getting big

Microsoft would just buy Unity out before paying that ransom

Maybe that's the plan lol

They'll just increase all prices by $1, and call it a day.

In before one of them starts stripping or firewalling the phone-home code. What's Unity gonna do? Valve hasn't signed any contracts with them!

Apple has Unity games in Apple Arcade I’m sure; which is like “iCloud GamePass”. So add another behemoth with almost more lawyers than money.

See: a certain owner of a (much less than) $44 billion social media company.

The CEO of Unity did sell off most of his own stock in the company shortly before the original announcement. It's an open-and-shut case for insider trading charges if ever I had heard one.

I'd like to watch them try to send an invoice to these companies.

Most likely they won't ever try, it's just a blatant lie because they have no grounds to even attempt it. They have a deal with the gamedev studio, not the platform owner.

They are trying to make a power play against these companies to strike out a deal due to their market share

A problem I see with it is that games that push console sales are made on Unreal (or internal engine) not Unity

However the amount of negative press is overblown as they are starting far in order to give things up during negotiations. And despite saying it’s only charged on first install; I’ve seen people claim it will bankrupt devs

I support devs switching from Unity to Godot but I feel like in a year’s time it won’t really matter as people are more likely to get hired for Unity

Wrong!

Companies will just increase prices whenever they can get away with it

Fixed that for ya.

Steam is just a storefront, not a publisher. And traditionally Valve only publishes their own games. While Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony are more broad game publishers. Imagine Casio trying to charge the watch store for every time you look at the time in the watch you bought there. Complete bonkers.

Because Valve also has several attorneys on the payroll and I imagine they're also looking into how to dodge this, or to counter Unity.

Not sure about costs in this shitty ass economy but there's going to be delays up the wazoo now.

It may cost more than money, if the games can’t be converted to a new engine…

They already are. They're being yanked all over.

I would assume their console export options are due to some kind of agreement with console manufacturers, as they keep their dev agreements under heavy NDAs. I wonder how this will play out.

if how fast

People keep telling me that PC gaming is expensive and yet I pay no subscription fees and have plenty of choice for which storefront to purchase from so game prices tend to stay low outside a few exceptions.

Who'll pass it on us.

There is a viable open source competitor, godot. The issue is that for many developers who have invested years into their current project, moving engines midway is a ton of effort that might break them financially.

There is at least godot

Newsflash the Unity drama as a whole still affects the PC market

This reaction is like getting upset with Mexico for supporting the wall after Trump baselessly claimed Mexico would pay for it.

I love gamepass/Xbox’s BC commitment but I’m not going to call Microsoft “pro-consumer” lol

Really bad policies that will set even worse precedents are not a punitive measure against companies you don’t like.