Unity Engine Developers Apologize for Policy Change
Users Outraged at Proposed 20-Cent ‘Install Fee’
By Connor Markey, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Unity, a popular free software used for video game development, announced a change to their use policy on Sept. 12. This change could potentially charge developers a flat fee for every individual installation, which is causing an uproar among users.
“There is no way to differentiate between a true pirated copy and the real thing. I feel like this is causing more confusion when there are different ways to go about meeting quotas,” said Violet Nguyen, an FAU student visiting Lynn. “A 20-cent install charge to a developer is useless.”
“What if their game just blows up and then the developer gets crippled by debt because a million people downloaded their game,” asked Mike McGrady, a senior.
Unity has been used to develop some of the most popular games of recent years, such as “Among Us,” “Pokémon GO,” “Rust,” “Beat Saber,” “Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout” and many more.
However, following through with its install-fee policy change seems unlikely according to a statement made through Unity’s official twitter account.
People were quick to point out flaws with Unity’s new monetization system, the most egregious being the inability to distinguish between legitimate and pirated copies being downloaded. This would mean that developers could potentially be charged even if someone had downloaded an illegal copy of their game without paying.
Unity has since issued a public apology, following massive public outcry and several threats to boycott the company. While the company has announced it will retract this payment plan in favor of a revised version, no new policy has been released yet.
