Unity is a powerful engine widely used for game development and virtual reality applications, and it has always been an important part of the developer community. Recently, Unity announced a new charging model, which sparked widespread discussion and controversy. In this article, we’ll explore this new charging model and analyze its possible impact on developers and the gaming industry.
Unity officially announced that it will charge "running fees" to game developers starting next year. That is, when the game reaches a certain revenue threshold or installation number threshold, Unity will charge different fees based on the number of downloads, subscription levels and regions, with the minimum being US$0.005 per download ( (currently about 0.0365 yuan), with a maximum of 0.2 US dollars (currently about 1.46 yuan).
background
Before talking about the new Unity charging model, let us first understand the history of Unity. Unity used to offer two main versions: Unity Personal and Unity Pro. Unity Personal is free and suitable for individuals and small teams, but has some feature limitations. Unity Pro requires payment and provides more advanced features and support. This pattern has been around for many years and is widely used by many developers.
However, Unity recently announced a big change: they will be canceling Unity Personal and instead introducing a new subscription plan called Unity Personal Plus for a monthly fee. This decision has sparked dissatisfaction and concern among many developers, so let’s take a deeper look at these concerns and the possible impact of the new charging model.
Unity version
The latest version
Unity 2019 LTS
Unity's latest editor version Unity 2019 LTS support version has been officially launched and is available for users to download from the official mall. Unity 2019 LTS is Unity that includes all content in the previous TECH Stream technology update version, as well as all fixes and improvements since the release of Unity 2019.3.
In July 2020, Unity’s first TECH Stream version of the year, Unity 2020.1, was launched. Unity 2020.1 includes a series of new features and improvements that make the engine's workflow more straightforward and easy to understand, making creation more productive and suitable for developers who want to try new technologies. Unity 2019 LTS is still the most recommended version for users who want to develop projects on the most stable editor version.
Pro Professional Edition
The Unity version is suitable for enterprise teams and professional developers. Enterprises with an overall financial scale of more than US$ 200,000 in the past 12 months need to purchase Unity Pro. You can customize the game startup animation, have a professional black version UI interface , professional performance indicator feedback, 25GB cloud storage space, and other services. At the same time, it includes a high-end art resource package and supports Analytics to export 50GB of raw data per month and access to Unity Learn Premium.
Plus enhanced version
The Unity version is suitable for high-demand individual developers and initially established small businesses. Enterprises whose overall financial scale has not reached more than 200,000 US dollars in the past 12 months need to purchase Unity Plus. You can customize the game startup animation, delete the Unity icon when the game starts, have a professional black version UI interface, professional performance indicator feedback, 25GB of cloud storage space, and other services.
Unity MARS
Unity MARS is the first mixed reality / augmented reality creation toolset that provides creators from all walks of life with the ability to seamlessly build intelligent AR content . Experiences created with Unity MARS are fully responsive to the physical space around them, support any location, and use any type of data, while allowing creators to deliver AR experiences that match end-user expectations: as if they actually exist in the real world and are responsive Real world digital content .
Unity Art Engine
ArtEngine helps game studios deliver photorealistic content for next-generation consoles; enables VFX studios to deliver better visual effects for movies; and achieves equally impressive results for creatives working in other industries. It removes the burden of subtle material creation work - such as converting light to PBR materials, lifting glue, deblurring, removing seams, not warping, color matching and more, helping artists focus on the value-added parts of the creative workflow .
Developers' concerns
1. Higher costs
The most obvious concern is that the new Unity Personal Plus plan requires a monthly fee, which will increase development costs. For individual developers and small teams, this can be a significant expense. Many people believe that Unity should remain a free Personal version to continue supporting independent developers and startup teams.
2. Innovation is limited
Some developers worry that the new charging model may limit innovation. When developers no longer have easy access to some advanced features, they may be limited in realizing their creative visions. This may result in limited development for some projects because they cannot afford more advanced versions.
3. Community fragmentation
The power of Unity lies in its large community, where developers can share resources, tutorials, and plug-ins. The new charging model may divide the community, as some developers may no longer be able to use the latest Unity version. This could disrupt the ecosystem of community collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Unity's response
Unity has responded to developer concerns, claiming that the new Personal Plus plan will provide more value, including more features and services. They said this will help them better support and invest in Unity's development in order to continue to provide high-quality engines and tools.
Unity also emphasized that they will continue to offer free trials so that developers can test Unity's features before deciding whether to purchase the Personal Plus plan.
in conclusion
The new Unity charging model has caused widespread controversy, and the developer community has different views on it. On the one hand, Unity needs to find ways to continue to grow and invest in order to remain competitive. On the other hand, developers want to continue to enjoy free personal use rights and are worried that the new model may have a negative impact on their development process and costs.
Ultimately, more communication and cooperation need to be established between Unity and the developer community to find a balance that can both support Unity's sustainable development and meet the needs of developers. This may require more compromise and negotiation to ensure that Unity continues to provide powerful tools and resources to game developers and VR application developers. In the future, we will see how the new charging model affects Unity's ecosystem and developer community.