• I Cast Fist@programming.devEnglish
    931·
    1 year ago

    I do remember seeing one of their terms saying something along the lines of “similar games will count as one” for the purposes of installs+revenue, that or someone mentioning it. Can’t seem to find it anymore, maybe they removed it? EDIT - Found one mention of it, “Games or apps with substantially similar content may be counted as one project”, Unity probably went back on this one, as it’s not listed on the FAQ right now

    Though considering Pokemon Shining Pearl/Brilliant Diamond runs on Unity, I doubt they’d want to let such a high selling game go untaxed.

    • TheHarpyEagle@lemmy.world
      38·
      1 year ago

      The terms have been changing every day, it’s such a shitshow. Like maybe they should’ve discussed and ironed out the specifics with the community before changing everything idk.

    • ackthxbye@feddit.de
      81·
      1 year ago

      Just goes to show nobody at Unity bothered to think this shit through. With the clause they’re going to have so many lawsuits with similar-but-not-same games, without the clause devs can dodge the fees like this.

    • Zacryon@feddit.de
      3·
      1 year ago

      Aww too bad. I thought this was really clever. But okay, Unity lawyers thought of that already. x(

  • schema@lemmy.world
    68·
    1 year ago

    They have a clause in the announcement that if two games are sufficiently similar is content, they are counted as the same game.

    How arethey are going to determine that you ask? Probably the same way they are using to determine install count: pulling it out of their ass.

    • Meloku@feddit.cl
      1192·
      1 year ago

      That would be a valid option… If the game was in the planning stage.

      • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
        6·
        1 year ago

        This is what worries me about Dyson Sphere Program. They “technically” have a finished product right now, and are still in beta. Hopefully they get the Dark Fog implemented before they have to kill the project.

      • Tb0n3@sh.itjust.works
        53·
        1 year ago

        Which is consistent with my criticism. The OP says from now on, meaning future games as well.

  • IWantToFuckSpez@kbin.social
    332·
    1 year ago

    But this will cut the Steam metrics in half and thus the Steam store algorithm will push the game to the Steam users less. Unless of course they both sell well then you get put in front of a user twice.

    • Bipta@kbin.social
      20·
      1 year ago

      There’s a minimum install limit before the fee kicks in. But since Unity can just make more retroactive rules, this strategy can implode at any moment.

  • doctordevice@lemm.ee
    11·
    1 year ago

    This strategy can backfire if your game gets popular enough. If both versions are counted separately and they each pass 1mil downloads and the 12 month revenue threshold then you’re paying the higher per-install fee brackets twice.

    To demonstrate, let’s imagine a game like this has 4 million installs in the first year and uses the Enterprise plan for the best pricing structure.

    Scenario A: single version

    • First 1,000,000 @ $0.00: $0
    • 1,000,001-1,100,000 @ $0.125 : $12,500
    • 1,100,001-1,500,000 @ $0.06 : $24,000
    • 1,500,001-2,000,000 @ $0.02 : $10,000
    • 2,000,001-4,000,000 @ $0.01 : $20,000
    • Total cost: $66,500

    Scenario B: two versions priced separately, 2 mil installs each

    Each one is the first four lines above, so the total cost is $46,500*2 = $93,000

    In either scenario, additional installs beyond these 4 million cost $0.01 each (regardless of which game it’s installed on). There’s a fine line of staying below the annual revenue thresholds (or not too far above) where this strategy does save you money.