It’s a new financing strategy that is making people cringe: the company Unity Technologies, behind the Unity engine, very popular among others among independent video game developers, announced Tuesday September 12 that it was going to review its financing system, provoking the ire of an entire section of the video game sector.
Engines are essential cogs in the creation of a video game. They allow, for example, to compose character animations, game maps or lighting. Until now, Unity was favored by small studios because of its economic model: the platform offered, in fact, free access for low-income structures and a subscription system above a certain threshold.
In its blog post, however, the American company noted a major change for the sector: from January 1, 2024, each development studio will have to pay a tax when a game designed with this tool is downloaded by a user . The tax applies if certain thresholds are crossed in terms of income and number of downloads, and its amount changes depending on the version of Unity used for the development of the game.
Despite these thresholds, presented by the company as protective measures in favor of developers who have not yet achieved success, certain studios immediately expressed their concern, like Innersloth, at the origin of the famous Among Us license, or from Massive Monsters, developer of the very successful Cult of the Lamb. The latter even threatened to withdraw its game from the market from January 1st.
All fear for their economic balance and highlight, like the Aggro Crab studio, the many questions raised by the announcement: will a game downloaded several times by the same person be subject to a tax each time? times ? How will this tax apply to games accessible for free to millions of players with monthly subscriptions, like Xbox GamePass?
On this last point, Unity Technologies finally clarified, Wednesday on the Axios site, that the tax would apply to the distributor in the case of subscriptions (for example Microsoft, with regard to GamePass), and not the developers. The company also added that the tax only concerns initial installations, that it will not apply to demo versions, but that it will still concern installations made by the same user on a second console. The company also ensures that it listens to criticism, while asserting its right to seek a viable economic model.
Unity is, in fact, currently looking to get back on its feet. Founded in 2004, the company went public in 2020 and has since repeatedly resorted to waves of layoffs, the latest (600 people, or 8% of its payroll) dating back to May, reports CNBC.