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A fresh report into Unity's hugely-controversial decision to start charging developers when their games are downloaded has thrown fresh light on the situation.

MobileGamer sources say Unity has already offered some studios a 100% fee waiver - if they switch over to Unity's own LevelPlay ad platform.

The report quotes industry consultants that say this move is an "attempt to destroy" Unity's main competitior in this field: AppLovin.

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[-] empireOfLove@lemmy.one 368 points 1 year ago

Why's it always end up being fucking ads?

I hate late stage capitalism. I want off Mr. Bones' Wild Ride.

[-] dudewitbow@lemmy.ml 130 points 1 year ago

Shareholders prefer constant steady income over one time purchases. Hence why they prefer subscriptions and ads.

[-] sadreality@kbin.social 39 points 1 year ago

Well... Peasants need this hot thing called voting with your feet and money...

Amazing things can be done esp in 100% discretionary sectors.

But nahh...

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[-] empireOfLove@lemmy.one 10 points 1 year ago

I know they do, and I hate it so so much...

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[-] Maultasche@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

The ride never ends

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[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 172 points 1 year ago

Don’t you just love when a company creates a problem just to go and try to sell the solution?

It looks like a protection racket with extra steps. An unpleasant solution presented by the problem creator. Why is this not banned?

[-] Krackalot@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 1 year ago

Game design 101 since the first smart phone.

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[-] legion@lemmy.world 155 points 1 year ago

Game devs: "No thanks, we're waiving the fees by using a different engine."

[-] lobut@lemmy.ca 22 points 1 year ago

I'd imagine that game devs, just like Unity's shareholders, like predictability in profits. Even if it's more expensive overall for them to move to Unreal for their next game, it could be worth it to avoid future calamity.

[-] echodot@feddit.uk 12 points 1 year ago

The problem is because you pay per install you could end up owing Unity more money than you actually make. Especially if people uninstall and reinstall your game a bunch of times for whatever reason.

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Lol nope. Not even fucking close. You’re gonna die, Unity. You have only yourself to blame.

[-] Valmond@lemmy.mindoki.com 22 points 1 year ago

Ooh yeah FOSS forever!

[-] LazaroFilm@lemmy.world 99 points 1 year ago

Screw this. Boycott unity.

[-] Poggervania@kbin.social 81 points 1 year ago

The conspiracy theorist in me says Unity planned this whole thing out to get less resistance on this thing they actually wanted to roll out; announce a super shit change that will intentionally outrage everybody, then say “ok, we won’t do it if you agree to use this other shitty model instead”.

Anyways, big shoutout to Godot for existing as an open-source alternative.

[-] drphungky@lemmy.world 46 points 1 year ago

That's not a conspiracy theory that's like entry level MBA stuff.

[-] ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.ml 61 points 1 year ago

Hey remember that time Unity bought IronSource so they could integrate ads more aggressively? Unity stopped being a game engine at some point they're just an ads company now

[-] LazaroFilm@lemmy.world 60 points 1 year ago

There should be a law against offering something for free for a long time, until many other businesses rely on it then make it pay to a point of breaking all those businesses. It’s one thing changing the price of a product that’s customer facing but if you market to other businesses that’s not okay. I guess it’s up to businesses to look in the contract for a clause that states that the product will be free forever or that they need X time warning before making it pay.

[-] geosoco@kbin.social 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Tech companies wouldn't exist. It's literally most of their business plans.

[-] kboy101222@lemm.ee 13 points 1 year ago
[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

Changing from free to paid is fine. Doing it retroactively is not.

Once a game is in development using their product the terms need to stay the same.

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[-] echodot@feddit.uk 46 points 1 year ago

This is such a dumb move.

Forget about ethics for a minute, if there is an alternate option that doesn't cost as much money then developers would obviously make use of that option so in any environment where alternate options exist companies have a limit of how obnoxious they can be and get away with it.

Somehow unity forgot that Unreal and Godot exist.

[-] stigmata@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

Honestly, if I had any stake in them I'd be wondering why Unity is so desperate for money.

[-] BURN@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Every tech company is desperate for money right now. Funding isn’t coming in at the same rate it did for the last 10 years and now everyone is desperately trying to make a profit.

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[-] BURN@lemmy.world 45 points 1 year ago

I’m pretty sure this is just unequivocally worse. This is how Ads end up in paid games. Unity is speed running their complete collapse as the dominant player in the market.

[-] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 37 points 1 year ago

Elon Musk: speedruns enshittification on Xitter

Unity: "Hold my beer"

[-] SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 year ago

It's enshittification all the way down

[-] Jaysyn@kbin.social 35 points 1 year ago

That's worse, you fucking assholes.

[-] VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

The first one was assholish, but this one is outright insulting.

[-] itsaghostcar@lemmy.ca 32 points 1 year ago

AppLovin? What kind of a stupid name is that? What, are they trying to be an Irish R&B singer?

[-] funktion@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago

It was either that or Mohammed

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[-] geosoco@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

They hired the same marketing firm to come up with a name that McDonalds' used.

[-] foggy@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago

Time to polish off my unreal dev skills, something tells me those jobs about to be hot.

[-] Redo11@szmer.info 9 points 1 year ago
[-] foggy@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago

No, I'd be better off polishing off my existing skills using a technology that currently holds a significant market share in the industry.

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[-] sebinspace@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

Unity have yet to discover that nothing happens quietly on the internet.

[-] Fapper_McFapper@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

And so continues the downward spiral of the enshitification of video games.

[-] Hiccup@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 1 year ago

Fuck unity. Use anything but unity.

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[-] Ertebolle@kbin.social 20 points 1 year ago

How many times are developers going to put up with being used as sticks for one group of rich assholes to whack a different group of rich assholes with before we start supporting open platforms?

[-] orphiebaby@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

Fuck you, Unity.

[-] cypher_greyhat@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

Dirtbags. Compared to Godot, what incentive do people have to stay with this trash?

[-] Tavarin@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago

Being already well into development of a game in it.

[-] FoundTheVegan@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago

say this move is an "attempt to destroy" Unity's main competitior in this field: AppLovin.

This is the best advertisment ever. I've messed around in Unity a few times and would've recommended to people interested in a framework. But I guess I got a new platform to talk about.

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this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2023
548 points (97.9% liked)

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