A fresh report into Unity’s hugely-controversial decision to start charging developers when their games are downloaded has thrown fresh light on the situation.

MobileGamer sources say Unity has already offered some studios a 100% fee waiver - if they switch over to Unity’s own LevelPlay ad platform.

The report quotes industry consultants that say this move is an “attempt to destroy” Unity’s main competitior in this field: AppLovin.

  • empireOfLove@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    Why’s it always end up being fucking ads?

    I hate late stage capitalism. I want off Mr. Bones’ Wild Ride.

    • Dudewitbow@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Shareholders prefer constant steady income over one time purchases. Hence why they prefer subscriptions and ads.

      • sadreality@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Well… Peasants need this hot thing called voting with your feet and money…

        Amazing things can be done esp in 100% discretionary sectors.

        But nahh…

          • ThunderingJerboa@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            I mean quite the opposite. Ff you are talking about the plebs, you would have a point but the Unity changes they are now trying to force through are going to other companies who typically don’t like it when you mess with their income unexpectedly. They likely will switch to a new engine with their newer projects, so they don’t have to deal with a surprise change.

      • Mac@mander.xyz
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        1 year ago

        Well yeah. Subscriptions make a shitload of money compared to a one-time payment.

      • lorez@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        That’s why I’m gonna buy Procreate Dreams even if I’m not an animator.

  • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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    1 year ago

    This is such a dumb move.

    Forget about ethics for a minute, if there is an alternate option that doesn’t cost as much money then developers would obviously make use of that option so in any environment where alternate options exist companies have a limit of how obnoxious they can be and get away with it.

    Somehow unity forgot that Unreal and Godot exist.

    • stigmata@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Honestly, if I had any stake in them I’d be wondering why Unity is so desperate for money.

      • BURN@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Every tech company is desperate for money right now. Funding isn’t coming in at the same rate it did for the last 10 years and now everyone is desperately trying to make a profit.

          • BURN@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            It wasn’t really just crypto. The American government subsidized a lot of loans and did a lot to stimulate the economy post 2008. Those policies are now catching up to us. Crypto didn’t help anything, but it also wasn’t the root cause.

  • BURN@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’m pretty sure this is just unequivocally worse. This is how Ads end up in paid games. Unity is speed running their complete collapse as the dominant player in the market.

  • Poggervania@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    The conspiracy theorist in me says Unity planned this whole thing out to get less resistance on this thing they actually wanted to roll out; announce a super shit change that will intentionally outrage everybody, then say “ok, we won’t do it if you agree to use this other shitty model instead”.

    Anyways, big shoutout to Godot for existing as an open-source alternative.

  • itsaghostcar@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    AppLovin? What kind of a stupid name is that? What, are they trying to be an Irish R&B singer?

  • foggy@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Time to polish off my unreal dev skills, something tells me those jobs about to be hot.

      • foggy@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        No, I’d be better off polishing off my existing skills using a technology that currently holds a significant market share in the industry.

        • eskimofry@lemmy.one
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          1 year ago

          Technically concepts do that… not tools. You can do the same bashing with a hammer or a wrench

  • Ms. ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Hey remember that time Unity bought IronSource so they could integrate ads more aggressively? Unity stopped being a game engine at some point they’re just an ads company now

  • frezik@midwest.social
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    1 year ago

    And there’s the two-step. Don’t come right out with what you want. Come out with a bad option, then switch over to the option you wanted when everyone complains.

    • tal@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      The closest competitor is, what, Unreal Engine? That’s more costly.

  • Ertebolle@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    How many times are developers going to put up with being used as sticks for one group of rich assholes to whack a different group of rich assholes with before we start supporting open platforms?