The creator of the popular Steam survival game Rust has criticized Unity amid the ongoing uproar over new graphics.
The loneliness sent shockwaves through the video game industry When it announced a new policy that means some developers will have to pay a small fee every time someone downloads a game built on the Unity game engine.
The Unity Runtime Fee, set to go into effect on January 1, 2024, was globally criticized by developers on social media following the announcement. Unity later backed away from some aspects of the policy amid mounting anger from developers, insisting that the fee would only apply to the initial installation of the game, and that developers would not be on the hook for installs through subscription services like Xbox Game Pass, with the fee instead being passed on. To platform holders like Xbox.
However, there is still significant concern, and the backlash is becoming more vocal. A number of prominent developers said that the new Unity policy will significantly impact their plans, with some questioning whether they will use Unity in the future. Lamb worship And Between us It is among the high-profile games that may be pulled from digital markets if Unity continues with its plan. Unity has since insisted that 90% of its customers will not be affected by the change.
Developer Garry Newman, founder of Facepunch Studios and creator of the hugely popular Garry’s Mod, has written Blog post With some choice words from the management team at beleaguered video game engine maker Unity.
“Maybe they forgot about computer games. It hurts because we didn’t agree on this,” Newman said again. We used the mover because you pay upfront and then ship your product. We were not told this would happen. We were not warned. We were not consulted.
“We spent 10 years making Rust on Unity. We paid them every year. Now they changed the rules.
“The unit has shown its strength. We can see what they are capable of and what they are willing to do. You cannot un-ring that bell.
“Unity is the worst company to take charge of the Unity Engine.
“The trust is gone.”
Newman then went on to reveal plans to make a sequel to Rust, and expressed his regret that a special engine had not been built for the task.
“We had 10 years to make our own engine and we never did. I’m sure a lot of game companies feel the same way today.
“Let’s not make the same mistake again, Rust 2 will definitely not be a Unity game.”
Unity faces a number of questions about this new policy, such as how installs will be tracked, and who is considered a “distributing party” and therefore should foot the bill for these new fees. IGN understands that many publishers and developers of unannounced Unity games are currently scrambling to prevent their deals from collapsing following the news, with first parties concerned about absorbing the increased costs. Meanwhile, Unity, run by former EA boss John Riccitiello, is under increasing pressure to scrap the policy entirely. Developers also criticized Unity for… Removed engine terms of service from GitHub.
Rami Ismail, who co-founded Ridiculous Fishing, Luftrausers, and Nuclear Throne developer Vlambeer, summed up the anti-module sentiment in a post on The amount of extra tracking, the technical impossibility, and the one business model that could bankrupt you.
And I’m afraid this changes nothing at all about the four points I mentioned yesterday. There is still a huge amount of uncertainty for developers, retroactive modification of terms, a ridiculous amount of additional tracking, a technical impossibility, and the only business model that can bankrupt you. https://t.co/0fG8mZuaLW
– Rami Ismail (Rami) (@tha_rami) September 14, 2023
Wesley is IGN’s UK news editor. You can find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can contact Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
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