"Unity Engine Pricing Model"

Unity engine pricing model

Introduction:

Unity is a popular game engine among indie game developers with a large market share. To compete with Unreal Engine, Unity made some changes in its pricing structure.

Everything was going well until Unity dropped its new pricing model, according to it, developers have to pay per install. This news made the whole internet blast but soon Unity realized and came up with a new pricing model.

If you are here wanting to know about Unity's new pricing model, you are in the right place. I will tell you about the changes Unity made in their pricing model in detail. So read the complete article.

Let me give a small introduction. I am Maaz Ayub, a game designer. Here I write on game design, if you love to know about game design, subscribe to our blog.


What Is Unity Video Game Engine?

Unity is a game engine developed by Unity Technologies. You can make both 3D and 2D games, but it is more famous for 2D development because of its 2D tools and features which I think are better than many other games engines.

It was first released for Mac OS at the Apple World Conference in 2005, and now it has expanded its support to over more than 25 platforms including PC, Linux, Android, iOS, and all consoles.

The growing popularity of Unity is because of its simple interface, easy learning, and huge community to support.

Unity holds a market share of 26% with 105 total competitors including Unreal Engine and Godot. Annually, 45% of mobile games are made with Unity.

Unity Engine Pricing Model:

Everything was going well until Unity announced its new Unity engine pricing model. This shocks the whole gaming industry due to their stupid plan to compete with Unreal Engine. They wanted to charge a fee for every install, it doesn't matter if the game is free or not.

This makes the whole internet blast and forces Unity to make a new pricing model. However, this incident disappointed many indie game developers and forced them to shift to other engines. I think this is one of the reasons that Brackeys returned to YouTube.

Let's discuss the new Unity engine pricing model.

Unity Pricing Model Of Unity:

Unity Personal:

It was free for developers and studios with revenue lower than 1,00,000 $ annually.

Unity Plus:

It costs 399 $ per seat yearly with revenue lower than 2,00,000 $ annually.

Unity Pro:

It costs 2040 $ per seat yearly with revenue that exceeds 2,00,000 $ annually.

Unity Enterprise:

This is for large organizations with custom pricing and with additional technical and engineering support, source code, and extended versions.

New Pring Model Of Unity:

Unity Personal:

According to the new pricing model, it will remain free and the revenue limit is increased to 2,00,000 $.

Unity Pro:

In the new plan, the pro and plus are merged into one. It comes with the same price 2040 $ a year but with more features.


Unity engine pricing model

The Runtime Fee Of Unity?

This is the main thing in the new unity engine pricing model which causes tensions among the indie developers and small studios. Let me explain to you in very simple words.

According to Unity, the Runtime fee will only apply to you if you are using Unity Pro or Enterprise, and if you are using Unity 6 or later versions. but if you are using Unity's older versions released before 2024, no fee will apply to you.

How To Calculate The Runtime Fee:

Now, let's understand how Unity will charge. There are two ways according to them.

1. If your game generates 1,000,000$ in revenue in 12 months

Or,

2. 1,000,000 initial engagements (download of your game)

These are two thresholds, you will be charged whatever amount is low. 2.5% of your revenue monthly or runtime fee based on your monthly engagement.

The important thing is that you don't have to worry if you are using Unity 2022 LTS, 2021 LTS, and 2021 LTS versions.

The fee will only apply to games that are created using Unity 6. Also if you upgrade to Unity 6, then a fee will be applied.

Here initial engagement means that the first time a user purchased the game. One thing more, the Unity subscription fee is separate from the Runtime Fee.

How To Choose A Unity Plan?

Which subscription to choose from the Unity game engine depends on you, your game, your priorities, and your requirements. Unity comes with three different plans now, The Personnel, The Pro, and The Enterprise.

Best Plan For Indie Developers:

The personal version is free with limited features but enough to make a good game. If you are a student or indie or make games as a hobby, go for it.

The Unity Pro Plan:

But if you are a professional developer or you have a small studio working on a game with a futuristic goal, I would say “Go with Pro'', because it comes with features like Havok Physics and AR/ VR tools.

Subscription For Big Studios:

The enterprise is good for large studios that have million-dollar bugdets to build games. Again, it also has more advanced features to make the game development smooth and easy. Unity will provide complete technical support to you.


Why Should You Use Unity?

There are many reasons to get started with Unity especially if you are starting with game development. Unity is loved by indie game developers.

Simplicity Is The Ultimate Sophistication:

It is easy to use, has a simple interface, and a large community on forums to support. If you want to learn Unity there are many great sources, videos, and courses on YouTube and Udemy. There are also many best game design books, you should read them.

Best Documentation:

Unity also offers courses on its website to get started with Unity. I loved the Unity Documentation which is super detailed and easy to understand.

No Need To Type, ”Hello World”:

Also if you don't know about any programming language and find it hard to write “Hello World” then don't worry Unity offers a Visual Scripting tool called “Bolt” and it's free.

Save Your Time And Money:

Since you are an indie game developer, most of you are enrolled in any degree or doing a part-time job. So you will not have enough time to create all assets by yourself and this is where Unity assets store comes to light.

Unity assets store has a large collection of high-quality assets of all types from 3d characters to environmental props, animations, sound effects, particle effects, and so on. The good thing is that many of them are free And you can use them commercially in your game.

The Unity Forums:

The last thing is Unity's supportive and vibrant community is always ready to help you. If you are stuck with some error in Unity consoles just go to the forums and make a request. These are some factors in choosing the Unity Game engine.

Is Unity Or Unreal Better For Beginners?

Every successful player or business has its competitor and Unity is no exception. Unreal engine is considered the biggest competitor of Unity and you will find many YouTubers comparing both.

Don't spend much time choosing which is best because their rivalry is the same as Ronaldo and Messi so both are best.

Below I have mentioned some factors that I think are important, and why you should choose Unity or Unreal engine as a beginner and indie game developer. Let's do unreal engine 5 vs unity.

Programming Language:

Unreal engine supports C++ which is the fastest language in the world with the least compile time. Due to this, it is used in large games.

Unity uses c# as its primary language. It is a modified version of C++ created by Microsoft and the second most used programming language in game development.

Here, c# is more object-oriented so it is much easier to learn than C++.

You may also like: C# vs C++ comparasion

Assets Store:

I have talked about the Unity assets store and why it is good. Let's compare it with the Unreal marketplace. Unity assets stores have more free assets than Unreal, giving you variety and freedom to choose.

Unity vs Unreal Pricing:

Monetization is important. If you plan to go long term, make a mobile game, publish to the Play Store, and make money by displaying ads. Then you need to do some research.

There is no comparison here; both have almost the same pricing model. Both offer 0.3 to 0.25$ per 1000 views, producing 10 to 12$ per 1000.

Conclusion:

In Short, First Unity made some unusual changes but due to trolling and protests of developers on social media, they redo their changes.

Now you pay the runtime fee only when you exceed their threshold limits and if you are on Unity 6 or later versions.

I hope that this article helps you to understand the Unity engine pricing model and if you then comment below. Thanks for reading.