Since I covered the whole unity fiasco a year ago, it seems only fair to share the good news as well.
This week, exactly one year after the announcement of the dred Unity runtime fee, we got the news that the runtime fee is no longer with us.
On September 12, 2024, exactly one year after the price changes were announced, Unity announced new changes in its price scheme. The most important one is the removal of the runtime fee.
First of all, the date is important. It is clear that this decision was made some time ago, probably after the new CEO was appointed, but they need to wait for legal reasons to make the announcement.
This announcement is a surprise, but if we look at all the changes the company has made since they fired Riccitiello, it’s clear they were on the path to revert all the changes he made. Besides the actual removal of this individual from the company as a CEO: they closed Weta Digital, layoff 25% of the company which included most of the people incorporated during the Riccitiello era where a lot of companies were acquired, removed the entire IronSource leadership which were a big part of the disassociation of Unity and the game dev community, and the final change remaining was the Unity price structure.
Unity removed the runtime fee and reverted back to the original seat-based subscription model. Also, changes in the price structure were made:
- Unity Personal will continue to be free, but the ceiling now is $200K, which impacts the base limit for Unity Pro.
- Since January 2025, Unity Pro and Enterprise have had price changes, including an 8% increase in subscription for Unity Pro and a 25% increase for Unity Enterprise.
The company lost a lot of trust in the last year since the runtime fee but has been changing its ways as fast as possible to try to get back on track.
It is obvious to me that they want to return to their roots as a game engine and start working with the community again.
It is clear that Unity has already suffered damage, and it will be difficult to return to its numbers from a year ago. But I do think people who left when all this exploded will gradually come back, and the company will recover some of the good grace it had in the past. After all, it is still one of the most popular engines on the planet.
If you want to check the official post, look here https://unity.com/blog/unity-is-canceling-the-runtime-fee