Re-Logic, the developer of Terraria, has “unequivocally condemned” the new Unity pricing plan and pledged $200,000 to the open source engines Godot and FNA to support other studios’ work.
“The team at Re-Logic has been watching the recent events surrounding Unity with both interest and sadness,” started its statement, claiming that “darker forces” have changed Unity which used to be a “formerly-leading and user-friendly” game engine.
— Terraria🌳 (@Terraria_Logic) September 19, 2023
“We unequivocally condemn and reject the recent TOS/fee changes proposed by Unity and the underhanded way they were rolled out,” it continued. “The flippant manner with which years of trust cultivated by Unity were cast aside for yet another way to squeeze publishers, studios, and gamers is the saddest part.”
This echoed the feelings of other developers who have weighed in on the introduction of the runtime fee. Slay The Spire studio Mega Crit called it “a violation of trust” while Aggro Crab denounced the pricing plan as a potential “enormous dent in our income” and that it “threatens the sustainability of our business”.
Re-Logic said that a statement would not be “sufficient” to express its disappointment in Unity and that its decision to donate $200,000 to alternative game engines is “lighting some candles in an otherwise dark moment”.
Godot and FNA will receive $100,000 each from Re-Logic, and the developer said that it would sponsor both of the projects with a monthly $1,000 pledge from this point forward.
“All that we ask in return is that they remain good people and keep doing all that they can to make these engines powerful and approachable for developers everywhere,” it concluded.
Wiggin, a law firm from the United Kingdom, analysed Unity’s pricing plan and found that it might encounter substantial legal issues when putting the runtime fees into place.
In other gaming news, Microsoft CEO of Gaming Phil Spencer shared that “so much has changed” since the creation of the leaked documents revealing remasters of Fallout 3, The Elder Scrolls 4, and more.