Unity apologizes for controversial new pricing scheme, 'will be making changes to the policy'
www.pcgamer.com
"Thank you for your honest and critical feedback."
  • phorq@lemmy.ml
    45·
    1 year ago

    This is like saying “sorry you were upset by what I did”, which my parents growing up would tell me isn’t a proper apology. I think Unity needs a timeout.

  • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    25·
    1 year ago

    The only apology I or most others will accept is emptying out their exec suite, because those are the people who lobbied for and enacted these changes. If the exec suite doesn’t change, it just means they’re waiting for a more opportune moment to try the same strategy again.

    • onlinepersona@programming.devEnglish
      31·
      1 year ago

      The only apology I or most others will accept is emptying out their exec suite

      I doubt that it’s “most”. Unity will wait until this has been forgotten, then introduce something a little less this than this, and repeat that until they’re halfway to this situation which is exactly where they probably wanted to be from the start. By that time, most will be too deep in whatever it is they’ll be doing and will be caught with their pants down.

      I bet most will not learn from this and continue to use unity. Opensource alternatives like Godot, Stride, Torque, Panda and other will remain obscure for the simple fact that the majority will have been taught unity or unreal.

      • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        4·
        1 year ago

        But the thing is that they’ve consciously fucked over, like, all of their developer partners. It was an idiotic and capricious business decision if you actually understand how the gaming industry works.

        People will refuse to do business with them going forward, because their current exec team (and let’s be real: they’re not going anywhere) has demonstrated that they have zero compunctions about unilaterally pulling the rug out from under business partners who thought they had a reasonable contract around their use of Unity’s platform and services. Unity’s leadership has demonstrated a willingness to engage in a level of unpredictability that will absolutely make developers and studios look elsewhere.

        • onlinepersona@programming.devEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          There are only two ways I could be convinced that people have learned from this:

          1. Unity keeps their execs and die as a result
          2. Opensource game engines become the most used game engines in a few years

          I’m betting that neither will happen and around this time next year, Unity will be as used as ever - if not more.

          • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            1·
            1 year ago

            You’re entitled to your opinion of course, but I disagree, and pretty strongly at that.

            Businesses - and I mean literally anything one could classify as a business - depend on well-written contracts to be able to function efficiently and consistently. Unity, by unilaterally making sweeping (and importantly, retroactive) structural changes that impact ALL of their customers, has now broken that cardinal rule of business: they’ve shown that their leadership is willing to make chaotic, poorly researched and understood, and harmful (to their customers) changes at the drop of a hat, with zero consultation or advance notice. Unity has introduced unpredictability in a business context where other parties require predictability. I am entirely serious when I say that I expect Unity to die (largely because the exec team is definitely not going to be sacked).

            • onlinepersona@programming.devEnglish
              1·
              1 year ago

              I actually agree with everything your reasoning, I just disagree with this

              I am entirely serious when I say that I expect Unity to die (largely because the exec team is definitely not going to be sacked).

              They should die for what they did, but I’m a cynic and have absolutely no faith in management nor individuals to change when they have to. Basically everything around us is proof of it. There are already discussions from people complaining that Godot isn’t business ready and can’t possibly be an alternative: better move to Unreal. Absolutely nothing has been learned by the majority.

              Only time will tell just how able and willing decision makes are willing to change.

  • simple@lemm.ee
    25·
    1 year ago

    Nothing they can say will undo the damage. They’ll need to completely revert the changes and rework the license so that they’re not allowed to change it if devs don’t upgrade their Unity version, which I highly doubt they’ll do. The trust has been broken. Watch them try to reduce install fees and call it a day.