European Games Developer Federation (EGDF) has voiced its concerns about new install fees recently introduced by game engine market leader Unity.
“Over the years, the Unity game engine has reached close to unofficial industry-standard status in some game markets. Its well-designed tools and services have lowered the market access barriers in the game industry. Furthermore, it has played a crucial role in removing technological barriers to cross-platform game development. Now, Unity has informed the game dev community that it will move from subscription-based fees to subscription and install-based fees, which will significantly increase the game development costs for most game developers relying on their services. EGDF finds it unfortunate that Unity has significantly damaged its reputation as a reliable and predictable business partner with these sudden and drastic changes in its pricing principles.” (Source: EGDF)
Unity’s new fee policy will be implemented in many games developed in Finnish game studios, as the Unity engine has a strong foothold in the local industry. Neogames Finland estimates that approximately 60-70% of Finnish game development studios use the Unity engine.
Furthermore, many Finnish educational institutes organizing game development programmes have for years featured teaching Unity tools heavily in their curriculums. The policy change may create a pressure for local game development students and professionals to quickly adapt to the changing environment.
“Unity’s decision will have a broader impact on the whole game industry ecosystem. Many professional game education institutions have built their curriculum on the Unity game engine. If Unity’s new pricing model starts a mass exodus from Unity’s engine, it will lead to rapid changes in professional game education itself and place many young industry professionals who have built their career plans on mastering Unity’s tools in a very difficult position.” (Source: EGDF)
Read the statement in full on EGDF’s website.
Neogames monitors the development and evaluates the effects of the process from Finnish game industry’s point of view. Suomen pelinkehittäjät ry (The Finnish Game Developers’ Association) is a member of EGDF.