They thought they’d be able to slip this change through and people would just pay it. They were expecting a big payday, not a storm of bad press and angry people.
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
You see, making games is so expensive nowadays. So, now the starting price will be $80 and there will be a convenience fee for every install. No, it doesn’t matter that the game doesn’t use Unity, we will charge it anyways, just in case.
Isn’t the new model based partly on game and/or studio revenue? Sounds really scummy if you put it that way: Unity announces new pricing structure -> costs for devs rise -> they increase game prices -> now they reach the revenue threshold quicker and more often -> costs for devs rise…
No they won't! There's no way any of the big console manufacturers will ever agree to those terms, ESPECIALLY Nintendo. Microsoft would just buy Unity out before paying that ransom. You be smokin' some bigtime crack, Riccitello.
I think they even played that plan wrong. All MS has to do is announce that unity games won’t be allowed on game pass anymore and the value of unity will drop. It’s probably already in freefall with few new games from this point onwards targeting it.
Yeah, because Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo are companies who would never pass those costs back to the devs or down onto consumers. They'd totally bite the bullet on Unity's new royalty...
Unity are out of their minds if they think this is at all a good move. All they're going to do by pushing devs away and pissing off the major distributors is inspire the creation/adoption of a competitor.
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.
Only loosely, definitely not in the precise way they say they will do it. If they even could do that, it would be a massive privacy violation the likes EU would not be too keen on.
Listen peasants, if you don’t like the freeholder fees we charge, then surely Lord Microsoft will shelter you on his lands as a serf, and pay your fees on your behalf.
Charging Playstation: They have been quite naughty ever since they released the PS4 (and not in the good way), so a few millions in cash is kinda like karma to them.
Charging Xbox: Game Pass, Backwards Compatibility, Series S, allowing you to legally install emulators in their consoles… If there’s a gaming giant that’s pro-consumer, it’s them (second only to Steam, obviously), they don’t deserve it.
Every console requires an online subscription to play MP aside from a handful of games such as apex legends, fortnite, and rocket league. Not just an Xbox thing.
The one defense I'll give it is that when Nintendo's was free it was absolutely pitiful/unusable. Really you couldn't do any meaningful online MP on nintendo consoles until the switch. I don't like paying for it but clearly it's the only way resources get dedicated to it.
The other consideration - though not really a defense because it's not necessary - is that with Xbox for $60/yr I don't just get the online component, but 3 free games/mo. Most are garbage but I always end up with 4 or 5 games a year that I wouldn't have otherwise played (How I discovered XCOM!) that I really enjoy OR I get super lucky and some game I wanted to buy but haven't ponied up for drops (I got AC: Black Flag for instance one time). It's a hell of a value add at least!
I’d call it, sucking up to the player base to regain market space lost during the last generation. I’m not too proud to take advantage of their desperation.
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.
It’s unclear if Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are aware of this particular change in policy, and whether they’d be willing to comply with Unity Technologies.
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.
Yep, although at least that was a pro-consumer move on CDPR's part. It's very understandable why Sony wasn't happy about it, but it wasn't a shady move on CDPR's part. Whereas the same definitely can't be said for Unity right now.
It’s more, you gotta let your partners know before you announce something major. The reason Sony had to pull it was because they only allow refunds after a certain point on defective games, and they can’t sell a game they know is defective. So the only way they could do blanket refunds is if the game is labeled defective, which means they can’t sell it. Giving Sony a bit of a heads up might’ve meant they could have changed their policy, which would have been better long run for consumers.
Oh absolutely, I agree! I just wanted to point out that CDPR's move was at least well-intentioned so it's harder to judge them poorly for it. But you're right that communication is important in these situations.
Technically, CDPR being based in Europe were just informing people of their stuatory right to a refund within the first 14 days of any digital or online purchase. This highlighted that Sony have been managing to skirt that legislation with their policy’s and not having a proper refund system in place so they threw a wobbler and took the game down. CDPR were in the right, legally speaking, with that one.
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.
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.
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