One year to the day after Unity announced its new Runtime Fee, the company has announced its cancellation. Current President and CEO of Unity, Matt Bromberg, confirmed the news on the company’s website with a blog post. The Runtime Fee is canceled effective immediately for its gaming customers, while non-gaming industry customers are not impacted by the change. As a result of the decision, Unity is reverting back to its existing seat-based subscription model, including those who adopt Unity 6. Here’s a breakdown of the model, straight from Unity:
- Unity Personal: As announced last year, Unity Personal will remain free, and we’ll be doubling the current revenue and funding ceiling from $100,000 to $200,000 USD. This means more of you can use Unity at no cost. The Made with Unity splash screen will become optional for Unity Personal games made with Unity 6 when it launches later this year.
- Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise: We’ll be modifying subscription pricing and the qualifying annual revenue thresholds, effective January 1, 2025. These changes will apply to all new and existing Unity Pro and Enterprise customers when you purchase, upgrade, or renew a subscription on or after this date.
- Unity Pro: An 8% subscription price increase to $2,200 USD annually per seat will apply to Unity Pro. Unity Pro will be required for customers with more than $200,000 USD of total annual revenue and funding.
- Unity Enterprise: A 25% subscription price increase will apply to Unity Enterprise. Unity Enterprise will be required for customers with more than $25 million USD of total annual revenue and funding. A minimum subscription requirement may also apply. Because this set of our largest customers have unique needs and use many of our products and services, we’ll be contacting everyone in the days ahead to discuss customized packages.
Moving forward, any potential price increases will only occur on an annual basis.
When the Runtime Fee was first announced, we reached out to Brian Bucklew, co-founder of Freehold Games and developer of Caves of Qud, to get his feedback. We’ve done the same today as Unity cancels its Runtime Fee and here’s what he had to say:
It’s a good step back from the brink, but they need to start moving forward with the engine and rebuilding customer trust, not just walking back their worst decisions of the last decade.
Brian Bucklew, Freehold Games (Caves of Qud)
