Unity closes offices over threats of violence. The company has changed the price list of the game engine
Unity drastically changed the pricing policy of its game engine, which hit the entire market. The players allegedly threatened employees with death, which led to the closure of the company’s offices and the cancellation of meetings.
Unity Technologies – the supplier of one of the most popular Unity video game engines – came under a hail of criticism after announcing major changes to its business model. Some Internet users are so dissatisfied that they resorted to criminal threats, to which the company had to respond appropriately.
Unity closes offices after threats of violence
Unity’s management informed about “potential threats to the company’s offices” and was to take immediate action to ensure the safety of its employees. The general staff meeting was canceled and two offices were closed by the end of the week.
The company also assured that it takes such incidents very seriously and “fully cooperates with police officers” in this matter. It was about receiving “credible murder threats,” Bloomberg reports.
Unity has been dealing with extremely negative press and commentary since September 12th. It’s all related to dramatic changes in the company’s main product – the Unity engine.
Unity changes its price list – game developers and players talk about the scandal
Starting in 2024, engine suppliers will charge game developers a fee of 20 cents for each title installation – the so-called Unity Runtime Fee. Initially, it was supposed to apply to every subsequent installation performed by any user.
This would generate very high fixed costs for game developers, especially in the case of frequently installed free-to-play productions. Demos and beta versions would also be subject to a fee. There were suspicions that creators would also have to pay for pirated copies.
It should be added that Unity is often used to create cheaper and more niche independent titles by small teams (and sometimes single people). For these types of creators, the change is also a blow to the heart and could even cause them to start losing money on the games they create instead of making money.
Then the company only talked about the first installation of a given player on each platform. The company also detailed that the fee will apply only after exceeding a certain revenue threshold or a threshold for the number of installations.
The boycott of Unity has already been announced by, among others: creators of Among Us, Rust, Cult of the Lamb and Paint the Town Red. The list seems to be growing all the time.
