Unity has seemingly silently removed its GitHub repo that tracks ToS changes

Post by Clubber » Fri, Sep 15, 2023, 1:54 AM UTC

bhouston wrote: post #15

umpalumpaaa wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that they did it retroactively and they also added a per install/download fee. So if your game has 1mio installs you pad the install fee x 1 Million. Unreal has no install fee like this. “A 5% royalty is due only if you are distributing an off-the-shelf product that incorporates Unreal Engine code (such as a game). Provided that you notify us on time using the Release Form, you will only owe royalties…

> Those 27cents per install are a lot of money for those type of games and will even make some business models no longer feasible. Exactly. So if they did this in an upfront way, they would have said that starting with Unity 2024 there is this new cost structure. Then game devs can make informed choices if they want to build those types of games on the platform. This retroactive stuff is insane and I cannot figure ou…

Post by ekanes » Fri, Sep 15, 2023, 1:57 AM UTC

tagawa wrote: post #12

sn41 wrote: post #8

Just a side thought related to this: can there be a community supported initiative to parse what TOS documents of different companies mean, and specifically, what to watch out for in each company's TOS vis-a-vis what is the norm in a certain industry? Right now, the "gotcha" power is entirely one-sided. A wiki-like approach towards documenting TOS might make the user better aware of what to really watch out for when…

I think what you're looking for is TOSDR (Terms of Service, Didn't Read): https://tosdr.org It's been going for several years and has very thorough analyses of various ToS, done by volunteers who are often legal professionals.

Post by heavyset_go » Fri, Sep 15, 2023, 1:59 AM UTC

bhouston wrote: post #15

umpalumpaaa wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that they did it retroactively and they also added a per install/download fee. So if your game has 1mio installs you pad the install fee x 1 Million. Unreal has no install fee like this. “A 5% royalty is due only if you are distributing an off-the-shelf product that incorporates Unreal Engine code (such as a game). Provided that you notify us on time using the Release Form, you will only owe royalties…

> Those 27cents per install are a lot of money for those type of games and will even make some business models no longer feasible. Exactly. So if they did this in an upfront way, they would have said that starting with Unity 2024 there is this new cost structure. Then game devs can make informed choices if they want to build those types of games on the platform. This retroactive stuff is insane and I cannot figure ou…

Post by bhouston » Fri, Sep 15, 2023, 2:00 AM UTC

zerocrates wrote: post #22

bhouston wrote: post #6

This could have been done in a much better fashion to achieve the long term desired outcome (more income) while also ensuring continued trust and transparency with their community. Simply, they could have not made this retroactive on existing released games. Rather just be clear that going forward, games build using the new Unity versions would have a per-installation fee. And they would slowly discontinue support fo…

I wonder just how much this change is geared at capturing value from what's already out there, i.e. the retroactivity is the point.

Post by komali2 » Fri, Sep 15, 2023, 2:03 AM UTC

sn41 wrote: post #8

Just a side thought related to this: can there be a community supported initiative to parse what TOS documents of different companies mean, and specifically, what to watch out for in each company's TOS vis-a-vis what is the norm in a certain industry? Right now, the "gotcha" power is entirely one-sided. A wiki-like approach towards documenting TOS might make the user better aware of what to really watch out for when…