Unity: We have to charge for every install because we only see totals. Also Unity: We can tell which install is which, so you won't be overcharged.
The whole thing seems rushed because the CEO of Unity, John Riccitiello, was the leading advocate of microtransactions when he was at EA, and now he is instilling the same culture at Unity.
How will they differentiate between pirated copies and legitimate copies? How will they distinguish first-time installs from repeat installs? Can we trust their algorithm? It just doesn't seem possible.
Unity: Everyone really seems to hate EA
Also Unity: Let's hire the CEO of EA
🤦
It may have been more like:
Unity: "We love money and hate our customers, who can we hire to realize that vision?"
EA CEO: "Finally, a job that understands me"
Unity: ~~Everyone really seems to hate EA~~EA sure is making a lot of money
Also Unity: Let's hire the CEO of EA
🤦
Ftfy
If there was a foolproof way of checking for a pirated copy they wouldn't be making a game engine they'd be making DRM
Key bit feels like "can we trust their algorithm"
It's hard to enforce a "just trust me, this is what you owe"
I'm not sure why they hired him.
"Hey we're looking for a new captain, why don't we go for the guy who repeatedly sails into rocks? He'll be good."
Unfortunately a story as old as Wall Street. CEOs designed and hired to kill companies are a thing.
Meaning that this is on purpose? If so, who would profit from this? (besides the incompetent CEO themselves)
Short sellers, and the corporation that absorbs them at bargain prices.
You can usually tell a unique machine apart from another via MAC address, but even that has issues, and that's giving Unity the benefit of the doubt when they haven't earned it.
If I buy a new computer, they shouldn't be charged again because I installed on the new machine.
his is ignoring the "we don't collect personal data" but "we will definitely know if you install it once or multiple times "we have ways""
MAC addresses are per network Interface, my computer has three technically and uses two of them on a regular basis.
A terrible tracking method.
And nowadays you have randomized MAC addresses on IPV6.
Vendors also re-use MAC addresses to cheap out on costs.
MAC addresses are absolutely trivial to spoof, to the point that it's just a drop-down option on linux lmao, so yeah good luck with that one
Are MAC address even shared ocer IP? as I understand MAC is for routers and other equipment to connect themselves, what MAC address are they going to receive? The one of the PC or the one of my router?
The game could read the Mac address and send it. It would probably violate GDPR because it's not required for the game to perform its function, but it's technically trivial.
Except iOS will randomize its mac adress at each boot / after a while to prevent users being tracked by rogue WiFi networks, which is actually a thing being used to track consumers in commercial spaces etc. So that wouldn't work.
So did Windows at one point at least.
There is still a lot of questions. How many components can I change and it still be the same computer and not a new computer? If I replace one component every two months after about a year I'll have a new computer I've kind of ship of Theseused may way to a new rig. At what point would I have to buy a new licence?
If I don't ever have to buy a new licence in that scenario why do I have to buy a new licence if I buy a new computer outright, it's functionally the same difference.
Lying about collecting that data, because they do (and I block it). Not lying, but backtracking on everything else.
You're right, they're absolutely collecting data, but saying they can't differentiate between activations and then saying "oh yeah, actually, we can when it comes to (piracy/bundles/charity/etc.)" less than 24 hours later tells me that not only do they not care about game devs, but they think we're stupid too.
It also tells me that this is the first time their internal devs have heard about these plans. This is the C-level‘s wet dream, not something they have actually implemented yet.
But hey, it can’t be that hard, can it? The code monkeys should be able to get it to work in three months, right?
Ok so if they are now only charging for the first install, why aren't they just charging an extra fee per sale? Wouldn't that accomplish effectively the same thing? (And actually work out in unity favour since not everyone who buys a game downloads it)
Because they realize that a huge number of their customers are small indies, and they want to be able to squeeze them - the majority of their customer base - not just the minority of big companies (who are also the most likely to fight back legally).
Just look at how their scheme squeezes smaller, poorer developers way more than big ones. If Unity went by points like, say Epic does with Unreal, they could shake down the big developers… but wouldn’t get much out of the indies.
Which is the opposite of what smart companies like Adobe do. You facilitate the small players in hope that they grow big and keep using your products at a larger scale.
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That's probably pretty negligible numbers. In fact I'd suspect that the number of people who buy a single copy that they then install on multiple devices is lower than the number of people who buy a game and never play it.
It's also much simpler to implement and the numbers are verifiable. Unless... that's exactly what Unity wants; just "trust me bro this is the correct number" kind of deal.
People eventually upgrade their computers. Swapping out mainboards and/or reinstalling Windows probably counts as a new device.
Also Steam Deck - every install and uninstall is considered a new computer. That's true for Linux gaming using Proton in general, but the rest of Linux gaming is not as relevant.
It work for paid games, youd have to apply it to microtransaction level if by f2p game, which is the real target for the change.
Was Unity lying yesterday or are they lying today?
Yes and yes. It's not an either-or situation.
Good point, they can't both be true...but they CAN both be false. I'm hiring you as my lawyer.
The fact that they went forward with this decision means they're not so wise at lying. It sounds more like last-minute damage control, but I doubt this will stop their greed. What I'm wondering now is how will the Chinese game companies react? Everybody get your popcorns ready.
So does this mean every single unity game will have unity online drm now? Or how else will they be able to tell? Seem so much more convenient to take a cut from sales instead
This is wizards of the cost all over again. Unity learned nothing from them.
Relevant username is relevant
What does 'install' mean here anyway? Most unity games I play are either distributed as archives or installed through third party launchers.
Has anybody send Unity a GDPR request? I'd be curious what data they collect to make install tracking possible.
So what is a better game engine to use now?
Unreal for "commercial, highly documented, also an industry standard"
Godot for "this is actually libre software and you can trust it to not enshittify itself in a couple years"
Godot is FOSS.
Unreal is decent too i guess but.. not free. (Though iirc its free if you publish your game on epic)
Godot
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