Unity boss announces changes to runtime fee policy after community's backlash in an open letter

In an open letter to the community, Unity CEO Marc Whitten has announced several changes to the company’s new Runtime Fee policy, which was met with widespread backlash from developers last week.

Under the original policy, Unity would have charged developers a fee for every install of their game that exceeded $200,000 in revenue or 200,000 installs. This would have affected even the smallest of developers, as many indie games surpass these thresholds.

“We should have spoken with more of you and we should have incorporated more of your feedback before announcing our new Runtime Fee policy. Our goal with this policy is to ensure we can continue to support you today and tomorrow, and keep deeply investing in our game engine,” he says in the open letter.

Now, the Unity Personal plan will remain free, and the cap for the Runtime Fee will be increased to $200,000. Plus, there won’t be any requirement to use the “Made with Unity” splash screen anymore and games with less than $1 million in trailing 12-month revenue will not be subject to the fee. 

“For games that are subject to the runtime fee, we are giving you a choice of either a 2.5% revenue share or the calculated amount based on the number of new people engaging with your game each month. Both of these numbers are self-reported from data you already have available,” he continues.