Unity Technologies, a San Francisco-based video game software company, recently made a controversial announcement that stirred up the gaming community. They revealed plans to charge developers a fee of 20 cents for each user installation of their games, which sparked widespread anger, confusion, and disbelief.Learn more. However, the backlash took a dark turn when Unity received a credible death threat related to the controversy, leading the company to cancel a town hall meeting and shut down two of its offices for the remainder of the workweek.Read more on Bloomberg.
The pricing decision, slated to go into effect on January 1, will require developers using Unity Engine software as the foundation for their games to pay the new fee. Initially, critics believed the fee would also apply to reinstalls and pirated copies, triggering backlash. However, Unity clarified in a thread of tweets on Wednesday that reinstalls and pirated copies are not included in the fee.Find the tweets here. The company stated that more than 90% of their customers will not be affected by this change, with only those who have achieved significant downloads and revenue surpassing Unity’s thresholds being impacted.Learn more on The Hill.
Unity specified that the thresholds for being impacted by the fee are 200,000 lifetime installs and $200,000 in revenue. Additionally, they clarified that the fee is a one-time charge for new installs only. Despite this, not everyone was satisfied, and Unity received a potential threat to some of their offices. As a precautionary measure, Unity closed their San Francisco headquarters and an office in Austin, Texas for Thursday and Friday. CEO John Riccitiello’s scheduled speech to staff on Thursday morning was also canceled. Unity emphasized that they take the safety of their employees seriously and are cooperating with law enforcement.(Source)
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