Unity CEO Matt Bromberg announced that the company is reversing its "Runtime Fee" as part of efforts to become a totally different firm.
The decision was made a year after the change to its pricing scheme which many people were discontented with. It also sparked outrage from game developers and raised interest in alternative game engines.
Unity's Runtime Fee
The company will also implement price changes that will affect Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise subscriptions as their costs will go up. Bromberg's bold statement may be warranted based on what Unity has gone through in the past two years.
The company has laid off employees, raised prices, and introduced policies such as the highly unpopular Runtime Fee.
All of these all created distress among developers, with some claiming that Unity has fallen behind in maintaining the quality of its engine, according to GameDeveloper.
The Unity CEO pitched a vision of the company that does not rely on things like the Runtime Fee to boost its profitability.
During an interview, he added that the firm's goal moving forward is to have "its head on straight" and become a better partner to help developers make great games.
The last two years had been a bumpy road for the company, where there were many times when executives told customers that Unity was not listening enough to game developers.
Now, Bromberg deployed a version of that line in the interview. He said that the company needs to "be better at listening" in the future.
Bromberg said that the company's decision to reverse its Runtime Fee is a result of everything that happened. The CEO apparently spent his first 100 days talking with Unity's customers, such as its game engine and its affiliated marketing and monetization platforms.
A Change in Decision
Unity's Runtime Fee changed things so much that it no longer charged developers a set monthly rate based on the number of users who were utilizing the software.
It implemented a pay-per-download scheme that charged developers every time someone downloaded their game, said The Verge.
What the changes meant is that instead of paying a flat, predictable rate to Unity, the fees could fluctuate and it could lead to higher fees for popular games.
Bromberg said that he had been able to connect with many people over the last three months and heard what they wanted from Unity.
He noted that the company is reverting to a "more traditional cycle" of considering pricing changes on an annual basis, according to PCGamer.
