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These don't seem the same at all frankly, the unity thing seems like a blatant attempt at rent extraction. Gamepass is at least offering a genuine service in it

These don't seem the same at all frankly, the unity thing seems like a blatant attempt at rent extraction. Gamepass is at least offering a genuine service in its role as middleman.

LapsangGuzzler 3y ago
> the unity thing seems like a blatant attempt at rent extraction Gamepass is literally renting games on a flat monthly fee (which they've recently increased, btw). Unity chose a really stupid approach to handle their new pricing, but they're doing what everyone is doing, hiking prices in an uncertain market. I suspect this is at least partially because of services like Gamepass, but I'd love to know more.
- burnished 3y ago
  Gamepass is offering a service; smorgasbord of games on one end, guaranteed paycheck and platform on the other. Unity is trying to redefine their existing product as a service. This isn't exactly 'just' a price hike and I think its why people are so upset about it. And I agree with your suspicion. It seems that finding a way to offer a service instead of a product is a license to print money, so I imagine many companies have people pushing for this regardless of how well it would be received or how much sense it makes.
WillPostForFood 3y ago
Unity is not offering a genuine service? People are so upset because it is valuable product. Otherwise they'd just switch to something else.
- raincole 3y ago
  Unity has been always offering a genuine service, and they just raised the price of the said service in an unprecedented manner.
- burnished 3y ago
  What service are they providing me, that it makes sense to charge by the install? Pardon, I could have made this point more clearly.
  - thowfaraway 3y ago
    They are providing a game engine to make the game. If that's not worth it, switch. They don't own your C# code or assets, so they can be moved. For a lot of devs, it provides a lot of value. I understand for F2P, low ARPU games this pricing scheme doesn't work and people should complain until Unity fixes it. Unity has ~7,000 employees, and is losing money. They need to a way to monetize, and they are clumsily trying to target their most successful users to pay more. Price increase aren't rent seeking.

These don't seem the same at all frankly, the unity thing seems like a blatant attempt at rent extraction. Gamepass is at least offering a genuine service in its role as middleman.

LapsangGuzzler 3y ago

> the unity thing seems like a blatant attempt at rent extraction Gamepass is literally renting games on a flat monthly fee (which they've recently increased, btw). Unity chose a really stupid approach to handle their new pricing, but they're doing what everyone is doing, hiking prices in an uncertain market. I suspect this is at least partially because of services like Gamepass, but I'd love to know more.

burnished 3y ago
Gamepass is offering a service; smorgasbord of games on one end, guaranteed paycheck and platform on the other. Unity is trying to redefine their existing product as a service. This isn't exactly 'just' a price hike and I think its why people are so upset about it. And I agree with your suspicion. It seems that finding a way to offer a service instead of a product is a license to print money, so I imagine many companies have people pushing for this regardless of how well it would be received or how much sense it makes.

WillPostForFood 3y ago

Unity is not offering a genuine service? People are so upset because it is valuable product. Otherwise they'd just switch to something else.

raincole 3y ago
Unity has been always offering a genuine service, and they just raised the price of the said service in an unprecedented manner.
burnished 3y ago
What service are they providing me, that it makes sense to charge by the install? Pardon, I could have made this point more clearly.
- thowfaraway 3y ago
  They are providing a game engine to make the game. If that's not worth it, switch. They don't own your C# code or assets, so they can be moved. For a lot of devs, it provides a lot of value. I understand for F2P, low ARPU games this pricing scheme doesn't work and people should complain until Unity fixes it. Unity has ~7,000 employees, and is losing money. They need to a way to monetize, and they are clumsily trying to target their most successful users to pay more. Price increase aren't rent seeking.