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“This Is a Disaster:” Game Developers Scramble to Deal with Unity’s New Fees

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Re: “This Is a Disaster:” Game Developers Scramble to Deal with Unity’s New Fees

#31

Post by moron4hire »

fefe23 wrote: post #28

I don't get it. If someone gives you something that is vital for your product for free, and the license does not guarantee your free usage in perpetuity, and you can't take the source code and maintain things yourself if the vendor changes their mind, ... surely that's on you then? Did you think they didn't need to buy food and pay rent? To me as a complete outsider this move reeks of desperation on their part, not m…

I quit on Unity several years ago for this sort and many other reasons. But honestly, that isn't a decision a lot of people can make.

For me, I just went back to doing web development. For someone in the indie game market, you either develop in Unity or cut yourself out of the employee pool.

Re: “This Is a Disaster:” Game Developers Scramble to Deal with Unity’s New Fees

#32

Post by TheRoque »

TekMol wrote: post #5

Does this mean the engine will phone home every time a software which contains it is installed? How is that compatible with the GDPR which has been interpreted by courts in a way that it forbids sending any network packets to the USA, no matter if the user consented to it or not? For reference, see the rulings which deemed Google analytics illegal independent of consent.

"Q: Is software made in unity going to be calling home to unity whenever it's ran, even for enterprice licenses? A: We use a composite model for counting runtime installs that collects data from numerous sources. The Unity Runtime Fee will use data in compliance with GDPR and CCPA. The data being requested is aggregated and is being used for billing purposes."

Source: https://forum.unity.com/threads/unity-plan-pricing-and-packa...

Re: “This Is a Disaster:” Game Developers Scramble to Deal with Unity’s New Fees

#33

Post by TekMol »

agd wrote: post #11
TekMol wrote: post #5

Does this mean the engine will phone home every time a software which contains it is installed? How is that compatible with the GDPR which has been interpreted by courts in a way that it forbids sending any network packets to the USA, no matter if the user consented to it or not? For reference, see the rulings which deemed Google analytics illegal independent of consent.

GDPR relates to personal data and it doesn’t forbid sending any network packets to the USA.

Multiple curts have ruled that the information "IP soandso visited page soandso" and "IP soandso downloaded font soandso" are personal data.

Therefore it is very likely they will rule the same for "IP soandso installed software soandso".

Re: “This Is a Disaster:” Game Developers Scramble to Deal with Unity’s New Fees

#34

Post by [deleted] »

birracerveza wrote: post #8

On 4chan it immediately sparked a crowdsourced effort to make scripts that repeatedly install/uninstall games in creative ways (VMs, MAC spoofing) with the specific intention to hurt developers. This is definitely one of the dumbest choices I've seen a company do. Props to Unity for speeding up their own death.

[deleted]

Re: “This Is a Disaster:” Game Developers Scramble to Deal with Unity’s New Fees

#35

Post by gmerc »

fefe23 wrote: post #28

I don't get it. If someone gives you something that is vital for your product for free, and the license does not guarantee your free usage in perpetuity, and you can't take the source code and maintain things yourself if the vendor changes their mind, ... surely that's on you then? Did you think they didn't need to buy food and pay rent? To me as a complete outsider this move reeks of desperation on their part, not m…

You know, we’re taking about decades here.

That said - both Epic and Valve are private and that is probably the better razor. Be extremely vary VC/Public companies because they will come under pressure to slaughter golden geese when the time comes.

Re: “This Is a Disaster:” Game Developers Scramble to Deal with Unity’s New Fees

#36

Post by TekMol »

TheRoque wrote: post #32
TekMol wrote: post #5

Does this mean the engine will phone home every time a software which contains it is installed? How is that compatible with the GDPR which has been interpreted by courts in a way that it forbids sending any network packets to the USA, no matter if the user consented to it or not? For reference, see the rulings which deemed Google analytics illegal independent of consent.

"Q: Is software made in unity going to be calling home to unity whenever it's ran, even for enterprice licenses? A: We use a composite model for counting runtime installs that collects data from numerous sources. The Unity Runtime Fee will use data in compliance with GDPR and CCPA. The data being requested is aggregated and is being used for billing purposes." Source: https://forum.unity.com/threads/unity-plan-pricin…

    use data in compliance with GDPR
That is what Google also claims.

But the curts have ruled such claims from US companies are worth nothing because the US government has access to that data and has not made such claims.

Re: “This Is a Disaster:” Game Developers Scramble to Deal with Unity’s New Fees

#37

Post by Kiro »

datavirtue wrote: post #10
LarsDu88 wrote: post #3

Switching to Godot, even though I'm a hobbyist who will never hit those thresholds

Let us know how you deal with the threading model in Godot.

Your comment worries me. I'm making games that usually rely heavily on multithreading and I'm looking at using Godot for my next game.

Are you saying that would be a bad idea?

Re: “This Is a Disaster:” Game Developers Scramble to Deal with Unity’s New Fees

#39

Post by _the_inflator »

From the article:

"Enshittification [to describe what Unity is doing] refers to companies that create a good product, then ramp up fees and deteriorate the service to take advantage of users who are locked into it."

Let's see, how many App Stores follow suit. Pay per play/install might sound like a wonderful option for some.

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