Unity Introduces Installation Fees for Games

Unity has announced the introduction of a new fee structure, where a runtime fee will be charged for each installation of a game built using the Unity Engine, effective January 1. This fee applies to games that have surpassed a certain revenue threshold and lifetime installation count, with the fee amount and thresholds varying based on the developer's Unity subscription plan. For instance, Unity Personal and Plus subscribers will be charged if their game earns over $200,000 in annual revenue and has more than 200,000 lifetime installations, while Unity Pro and Enterprise subscribers have higher thresholds of $1 million in revenue and 1 million installations. The fees range from $0.20 per installation for Unity Personal users to $0.01 for Unity Enterprise users, with reduced rates for developers in emerging markets. Notably, existing Unity-based games will also be subject to these fees if they meet the specified thresholds, although non-gaming applications are exempt. According to Unity, this fee is justified as the Unity Runtime is installed alongside each game download, and this model allows creators to retain ongoing revenue from player engagement without sharing it. With billions of monthly downloads of its runtime code, Unity is also discontinuing its Unity Plus subscription tier, offering existing subscribers an upgrade to Unity Pro at the Plus price for a year.