Unity will cap fees at 4% of a game’s revenue for large customers

Unity Software Inc., in response to significant backlash over its recent pricing changes, is now revising its policy. The company is considering capping fees at 4% of a game’s revenue for customers earning over $1 million. Additionally, installations that count toward this threshold will not be retroactive. Unity had initially planned to charge developers for every new game installation after a certain limit, sparking widespread protests and threats of boycotts from game developers.

The controversy also extended to how Unity intended to track software installations. Initially, the company proposed using proprietary tools for this purpose. However, following the uproar, Marc Whitten, a Unity executive, stated that the company would now rely on users to self-report their installation data.

“I don’t think there’s any version of this that would have gone down a whole lot differently than what happened, it is a massively transformational change to our business model.”

During an internal meeting, CEO John Riccitiello emphasized that the new policy aims to generate more revenue from the company’s largest customers, assuring that over 90% of Unity users would remain unaffected. Addressing concerns about the company’s reputation after this incident, executives highlighted the need for Unity to “show, not tell” and to be more cautious with future communications. Riccitiello admitted that while the change was a significant shift in their business model, there were aspects they could have handled better.