Unity and a data-oriented approach

[Scott_Arm]

Unity 2022.2 Tech Stream | Unity

Discover the latest features and enhanced platform optimizations in the latest release, Unity 2022.2 Tech Stream.

unity.com

So ECS is now production ready.

ECS for Unity

ECS for Unity (Entity Component System) is a data-oriented framework compatible with GameObjects. It enables seasoned Unity creators to build more ambitious games.

unity.com

 

[Shifty Geezer]

ECS might give Unity a way to compete with Unreal by supporting larger scope and complexity versus the prettier renderer and details.

 

[Scott_Arm]

ECS might give Unity a way to compete with Unreal by supporting larger scope and complexity versus the prettier renderer and details.

Yep. Unity's biggest problem is garbage collection, so even popular games like Tarkov have big moments of stutter from memory management stuff. ECS should clean a lot of that up.

 

[Scott_Arm]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1654169432598478848

Mike Acton moving on from Unity. I'm very curious if the DOTS mission will be fulfilled. Andreas Fredriksson left a while ago. Mike Acton was a VP, I think, and he's now on the way out. Very curious to see

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Yeah. Is he leaving because Mission Accomplished, or deserting a sinking ship?

 

[Scott_Arm]

Yeah. Is he leaving because Mission Accomplished, or deserting a sinking ship?

Unity’s Problem

(Unity the company, not Unity the engine) Unity have recently announced their third recent round of layoffs, and pretty much everyone is blaming CEO John Riccitiello for persistent mismanagement. T…

www.boristhebrave.com

If Mike Acton was laid off, then it's a sinking ship. If he left on his own, then he's probably deserting a sinking ship.

 

[pharma]

Unity will start charging developers each time their game is installed

Unity announced a new fee structure today, and developers are none too happy. “We are introducing a Unity Runtime Fee that is based upon each time a qualifying game is downloaded by an end user,” the company wrote in a blog post announcing the change.

www.engadget.com

 

[Scott_Arm]

@pharma Came here to post the same thing. Wild. I imagine they'd do a 180 on this otherwise they're dead.

 

[T2098]

Unity will start charging developers each time their game is installed

Unity announced a new fee structure today, and developers are none too happy. “We are introducing a Unity Runtime Fee that is based upon each time a qualifying game is downloaded by an end user,” the company wrote in a blog post announcing the change.

www.engadget.com

Glad I saw this here, was just about to hit post on a new thread in the tools and software forum.
That's quite the decision they've made.

The good news is they're publicly traded, and somehow their stock seems to be up 2.5% following the news, so there's room for people with strong stomach for risk to make some real money shorting them.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Fuck me! After all I've invested in learning Unity over the years, they pull this shit?! 20 cents for an install, just to see if they like it?!

Having calmed down and looked at the source, it's monstrous only if you don't follow a professional route.For indies, you need $200,000 a year revenue and 200,000 lifetime installs. Then you can be charged massively for future installs, but if you've made $200,000, you should be looking at a $2000 a year pro license (per seat). That drops the fee to $0.02 per install. Seems more like a 'carrot and stick' type stick to push people onto hier-tier subs or something. I'm also unclear if the revenue-share is dropped in favour of this. Seems so, so this is the entire monetisation. Maybe companies were just not reporting income and paying as they should?

Other engines are going to be all over this though.

 

[Theeoo]

From the FAQ:

Who does the Unity Runtime Fee apply to?

Unity Personal and Unity Plus: The Unity Runtime Fee will apply to games made with Unity Personal and Unity Plus that have made $200,000 USD or more in the last 12 months AND have at least 200,000 lifetime installs.

Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise: The Unity Runtime Fee will apply to games made with Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise that have made $1,000,000 USD or more in the last 12 months AND have at least 1,000,000 installs.

So it doesn't necessarily apply to everyone.

 

[cheapchips]

Applying a change in fees/licencing in retrospect is an entirely shitty move. It doesn't matter if it's only the 10% of users effected that Unity state. If they can pull this once, you can't trust them not to do something else down the line. You know that $0.20/$0.02, congrats! it's now doubled as we need to meet shareholder targets.

This can't happen with UE. Their EULA is in perpetuity. You can choose to change to a newer one if you want. Then obviously the likes of Godot don't carry the risk of being cost squeezed at random in future.

 

[Theeoo]

I was looking at some of the games released with Godot, and the most high profile one I can see is Sonic Colours: Ultimate, which apparently had a lot of performance issues at launch, although that is not necessarily the fault of the engine.

 

[cheapchips]

I was looking at some of the games released with Godot, and the most high profile one I can see is Sonic Colours: Ultimate, which apparently had a lot of performance issues at launch, although that is not necessarily the fault of the engine.

It's not a straight replacement for all that Unity offers. No console version either yet. You need to pay someone to port or do it yourself.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Apply a change in fees/licencing in retrospect is an entirely shitty move.

Pretty sure it's illegal. An agreement was established when the dev chose Unity to make the game. This is adding a fee that wasn't agreed that would have affected the developer's choice had it been made known before hand.

This is equivalent to a printer suddenly deciding they would charge authors a fee every time someone picks up their book, whether they buy it or not.

The latest as unity scrambles is they won't charge devs for games on sub services like GamePass, but the service provider. MS hasn't entered into any agreement with Unity for hosting Unity games - Unity honestly think they will pay for people downloading Unity games?!?!

"Dear MS,

Over the past 5 years, 300,000,000 downloads of Unity games have happened on GamePass (our estimate based on guesses). Please pay us $60,000,000 Unity Tax in accordance with our new agreement that neither you nor the developer have agreed to.

All the Best,
John Riccitiello"

 

[cheapchips]

1000 MS corporate lawyers simultaneously turn to look at John Racketiello with icy stares.

 

[Lurkmass]

The latest news might not be so great but Unity is still very much the only option when it comes to mobile game development ...

 

[tuna]

This has to be the craziest monetization move ever!

 

[digitalwanderer]

This has to be the craziest monetization move ever!

I don't know if it tops Musk's attempts to monetize Twitter/X or not, but it's close.

 

[arandomguy]

One aspect of this I feel might be they want to change the public perception of Unity?

I feel if you asked most people they would associate Unity with low effort/budget "shovelware/junkware."

Do any major/acclaimed/hyped/etc. Unity games use it has a marketing/selling point? If anything it seems like higher effort projects often don't even want the association. Whereas with Unreal Engine for instance almost everyone announces it and uses it as a marketing/selling point.