Unity Embraces Freedom with Immediate Elimination of Runtime Fees

Unity Ditches Controversial Runtime Fee, Returns to Traditional Subscription Model

In a major reversal, Unity is canceling its Runtime Fee and returning to a more traditional subscription model for its popular video game engine. However, the price of some subscription plans will increase next year.

A Year of Controversy

Last September, Unity announced a seismic change to how it charged developers to use its engine. Once a game was downloaded a certain number of times and had made a specific amount of money, Unity would start charging developers a Runtime Fee every single time someone installed any game developed using Unity, like Pokémon GO or Cuphead. Many smaller devs and creators criticized the decision, claiming it would lead to developers abandoning the engine to avoid paying thousands of dollars in install fees. This could have led to game delays and even the removal of older games from sale to avoid the Runtime Fees.

A Giant Mess

All of this led to a giant mess, which eventually led to Unity partially walking back some of these decisions a week later. It also led to Unity’s CEO retiring and another exec resigning. And now, after all that, the company is fully ditching the install fees completely.

New Pricing Structure

On Thursday, Unity’s CEO Matthew Bromberg announced the news that "effective immediately" the company was removing all Runtime Fees from the engine. Unity will return to a subscription model, with price increases for some plans. Unity Personal licenses will remain free until a game brings in over $200,000 in revenue or funding. Starting in January 2025, Unity Pro subscriptions will increase by 8% and cost $2,200 a year. Unity Enterprise will also see a price increase of 25%.

Key Takeaways

• Unity is canceling its Runtime Fee and returning to a traditional subscription model.
• Unity Personal licenses will remain free until a game brings in over $200,000 in revenue or funding.
• Unity Pro subscriptions will increase by 8% and cost $2,200 a year starting in January 2025.
• Unity Enterprise will see a price increase of 25% starting in January 2025.
• The Made with Unity splash screen will be optional for games developed with Unity 6, set to launch later this year.

A New Direction

Bromberg stressed that Unity will continue to increase prices as it needs to, but will only do so annually via subscription fees going up. It won’t try to squeeze pennies out of every developer using the engine based on how many times people install your game. Canceling the Runtime Fee for games and instituting these pricing changes will allow Unity to continue investing to improve game development for everyone while also being better partners.

What’s Next?

Thank you all for your trust and continued support. We look forward to many more years of making great games together.