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Unity Overhauls Controversial Price Hike After Game Developers Revolt

42 points by htk 3y ago

LightHugger 3y ago
I think the most important issue they've failed to address is that they haven't fixed the license they edited earlier this year. The edits changed the license to allow for retroactive changes to pricing. The new fees seem mostly reasonable especially as a non-retroactive offer (though new engagement sounds like an annoyance to keep track of from the developer end), but they haven't given anyone any kind of legal guarantee or feeling of safety, other than their word. And their word isn't worth anything anymore, nobody is going to trust unity for a long time.
s09dfhks 3y ago
Do they not realize the damage is done
wernerb 3y ago
They apparently can't back down completely. The Elon inspired ceo really wants that installation counting in there. It's despicable. You don't pay car companies extra fees if the car gets additional/new drivers. You get the revenue on the initial sale. If this is not enough you need to increase margins and make a better compelling product. Apparently there will be proprietary software that is going to count installations (.....) but for now according to Bloomberg unity customers need to self report.
- moogly 3y ago
  > You don't pay car companies extra fees if the car gets additional/new drivers. Well, not yet...
- valianteffort 3y ago
  What does this have to do with Elon?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
scohesc 3y ago
I'm sure this was entirely intentional. They announce changes to pricing that vastly exceed what people would reasonably expect and have the internet outrage for a couple weeks so Unity can pull a "we listened to our users!" and roll back their changes to what they actually wanted.
- vimax 3y ago
  It was the "egregiously see what you can get away with to hide establishing new precedent" approach. A classic. I bet they had powerpoints on Adobe's push to the cloud. See also: "The times are tough, where are those bad ideas we rejected before" Related to: "With prices rising elsewhere else, we should seize the day" Otherwise known as: "Never let a crisis go to waste"
__loam 3y ago
Walking back the retroactivity of the license and keeping things as they are for existing projects is huge. Long term though, they've really harmed their brand. I think most people are planning the exit barring huge changes to leadership. Creating a TOS addressing the last time this happened, then getting rid of that TOS anyway makes using Unity in the future a huge business risk.
ChrisArchitect 3y ago
[dupe]
- ChrisArchitect 3y ago
  Discussion on the main post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37614793 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37614793
justinclift 3y ago
https://archive.li/dWwHo https://archive.li/dWwHo

42 points by htk 3y ago

I think the most important issue they've failed to address is that they haven't fixed the license they edited earlier this year. The edits changed the license to allow for retroactive changes to pricing. The new fees seem mostly reasonable especially as a non-retroactive offer (though new engagement sounds like an annoyance to keep track of from the developer end), but they haven't given anyone any kind of legal guarantee or feeling of safety, other than their word. And their word isn't worth anything anymore, nobody is going to trust unity for a long time.

s09dfhks 3y ago

Do they not realize the damage is done

wernerb 3y ago

They apparently can't back down completely. The Elon inspired ceo really wants that installation counting in there. It's despicable. You don't pay car companies extra fees if the car gets additional/new drivers. You get the revenue on the initial sale. If this is not enough you need to increase margins and make a better compelling product. Apparently there will be proprietary software that is going to count installations (.....) but for now according to Bloomberg unity customers need to self report.

moogly 3y ago
> You don't pay car companies extra fees if the car gets additional/new drivers. Well, not yet...
valianteffort 3y ago
What does this have to do with Elon?
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

scohesc 3y ago

I'm sure this was entirely intentional. They announce changes to pricing that vastly exceed what people would reasonably expect and have the internet outrage for a couple weeks so Unity can pull a "we listened to our users!" and roll back their changes to what they actually wanted.

vimax 3y ago
It was the "egregiously see what you can get away with to hide establishing new precedent" approach. A classic. I bet they had powerpoints on Adobe's push to the cloud. See also: "The times are tough, where are those bad ideas we rejected before" Related to: "With prices rising elsewhere else, we should seize the day" Otherwise known as: "Never let a crisis go to waste"

__loam 3y ago

Walking back the retroactivity of the license and keeping things as they are for existing projects is huge. Long term though, they've really harmed their brand. I think most people are planning the exit barring huge changes to leadership. Creating a TOS addressing the last time this happened, then getting rid of that TOS anyway makes using Unity in the future a huge business risk.

ChrisArchitect 3y ago

[dupe]

ChrisArchitect 3y ago
Discussion on the main post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37614793 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37614793

justinclift 3y ago

https://archive.li/dWwHo https://archive.li/dWwHo