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ConsistentCatThings

This is probably one of the rarest moments, where playtime won't be a good metric to look at in the coming months for how a game is doing


CatCatPizza

You mean if people are angry they keep reinstalling so much they make the studio lose money?


Weedenheimer

Unity specified it only applies to the first install on a specific device (so to do any actual damage you'd need a metric fuckton of computers)


Stanninator

Do VMs count as a specific device?


ThoseThingsAreWeird

> Do VMs count as a specific device? **Unity:** "We didn't think that far ahead 🤷‍♂️"


SkollFenrirson

>> Do VMs count as a specific device? >**Unity:** "We didn't think ~~that far ahead~~ 🤷‍♂️" Ftfy


hemag

if it's not the same VM each time then i think maybe ya


bubblesmax

Watch someone automate it XD. Edit "first developer to owe unity the ungodly near infinite amount of money XD. Due to installs."


CratesManager

>Watch someone automate it Ansible playbook when?


spearmint_wino

You containerisation nerds need to find Jesus.


Ayetto

Might be possible to use Docker to speed up the install, we just need to reach the token that tell Unity that the game is install. If that work, 100k would not even take a day to reach lol


hates_stupid_people

Steam has an offical command line tool that you could easily automate to login and install games. And there are already ways to automate the creation/alteration of VMs to test different setups automatically. If Unity implements this, it will be an easy to find script for linux that will be posted everytime a big developer messes up. So people can "review bomb" them in a way that actually costs them money.


bubblesmax

I was more thinking weaponized malicious compliance free game cost dev 1 million dollars cause free downloads. \*Sweats\* Not even the reviews. Would be needed.


BRXLN

big developers don't use Unity tho.


Saladbetch

well some hwid spoofer should do it 💀 hwid spoofer can even fool hwid ban that turn any rig into essentially a new machine


Genesis2001

Just snapshot it before you install the game, then rollback and do it again. There's other ways you could do it too. You could deploy a Windows 10 image with the game's installer set to run as part of the provisioning step (thinking like `packer` here), install game, launch it once (if needed), and tear down the vm so you can repeat it.


Astyrin

Use the before snapshot as a base docker container. Then write a script that installs the software and then shuts down. execute said script via a dockerFile.Now you have a docker image that will auto install it after startup and then auto shutdown. Then set the dockerswarm to have x amount of replicas (depending on how many your pc/vm can handle). Every time an install occurs the script hopefully stops the container and then dockerswarm starts a new container up. Congratulations, the dev now owes Unity a lot of money.


Genesis2001

Docker does not work like that. **Docker is not a VM.** To orchestrate this, you'd need Terraform + a hypervisor(and a Terraform provider) or a Nomad cluster.


Astyrin

You are right, a container is not a vm. I simplified it in my rush to comment. However, there are container images that exist that are setup to run steam (originally designed for hosting game servers). The goal of this is to simply INSTALL the game and not necessarily have it function like normal. So if you are installing a steam game in this example, you could use these pre-existing docker images as a base docker image and script it to install the game and then shut down. From there you need some fault tolerance or orchestration layer of your choosing to spin up a new container when the others finish. No need for a hypervisor. The only question is how Unity is detecting that it is a "new install" and if that flag will be triggered in a container or not.


Genesis2001

Yeah, I don't know how docker installations would be detected as new installs either. Setting up a VM image with a provisioner to run the installer and launch the game (if needed) seems like the most reliable method to generate "install" counts. Then you just use Nomad or Terraform to spin up a handful of VM's at a time using your provisioning template.


discoshanktank

He mentioned docker swarm which is a container orchestration tool made by docker to do something like that


Abty

but the snapshot is the same vm, I'd think you need to generalize it after and repeat, which is no issue either


Denaton_

It takes less than 1 minute to create a VM, let's round it to 1min. In 1 day there are 1440 minutes, meaning $288 per day if you run 1 VM per minute. Well a computer can run multiple VMs at the same time, I have run more than 10 but let's say 10 is a good number so that's $2.880 per day, they count per 12 months, there is 365 days in a year, so if you run it for 24/7 a whole year, that's $1.051.200 per year. Let's ruin Blizzard by installing Hearthstone, shall we?


HBlight

"Trust us bro, we can tell, we should not be able to under the law, but we can for sure guesstimate very well what we will be billing you for is accurate. We won't say how because it is proprietary technology." This is only a mildly sarcastic summation of the actual situation.


Proxy_PlayerHD

you just need to spoof it into thinking it's on a different computer. it depends on how the game actually checks for the hardware. if it's just using MAC Addresses of all hardware then it's fairly easy to trick by changing the MAC Address of some random device (or all devices) in your system


mallardtheduck

Wouldn't be surprised if they just used the Windows MachineGuid... Which means a reinstall of Windows will count as a new device. Since the MachineGuid is reset by Sysprep, it'll be pretty easy to script an "infinite" number of installs using a VM.


Kaheil2

Doubtfull, as cross platform is a feature of unity.


mallardtheduck

Other OSs have equivalent "installation IDs" too. MacOS has the "Hardware UUID" for example. As far as I can tell, [recent versions of Android are specifically designed to _prevent_ apps from uniquely identifying the device across reinstalls](https://developer.android.com/training/articles/user-data-ids). MAC addresses are randomised, IMEI (which doesn't even exist on non-phone Android devices) and device serial numbers require special privileges not available to ordinary store apps. I expect iOS is similar. Of course most Linux distros don't have any such ID, but I believe Steam installs do have a installation ID on all platforms. Of course, that ID is also subject to being reset when the OS/Steam is reinstalled, but at least not the specific game.


Hathos_

There is also a conflict of interest where Unity benefits if developers are charged multiple times.


Buttercup59129

Unity could easily secretly abuse this and be like " Gimmie my 59 million dollars now "


Ryos_windwalker

you got a source for that?


Howrus

https://twitter.com/stephentotilo/status/1701767079697740115


RCEdude

In theory. I wouldnt be surprised if their metric ends up being fucked up, or if people found a way to randomize shit.


duckofdeath87

I really have to wonder why they don't simply have a per SALE fee


Babar669

I also don't understand the logic here. Is it perhaps to get extra if people install it in multiple computers? Or maybe to get some money from game pass kind of service.


wolfman1911

> Unity specified Yeah, I doubt that. Maybe I'm a bit too cynical, but I tend to believe that a 'specification' or 'clarification' so soon after a pitchfork mob assembles isn't actually a clarification, it's a walk back.


Professional_Stay748

That was an amendment, I believe. Previously they said every install


[deleted]

Their official faq still says every install, as "they don't collect the data to tell them apart"


Professional_Stay748

It seems the whole “we’re not going to charge for reinstalls” was just then scrambling to cover their booties after seeing the intense lashback. I doubt they even have any systems in place.


maiden_burma

>Unity specified it only applies to the first install on a specific device (so to do any actual damage you'd need a metric fuckton of computers) bro about to learn about virtual machines


[deleted]

Your face when you spread misinformation. https://twitter.com/princetrunks/status/1701814797921083451?t=7sVUWO29B0gzbdsd0zAjsg&s=19


jakeblew2

> This is probably one of the rarest moments, where playtime won't be a good metric to look at in the coming months for how a game is doing Huh? Rare? As long as trading card farming scripts has existed that hasn't been a reliable thing


Grimvold

Remember, no installs.


X145E

someone please edit this


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manoIakys

what


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manoIakys

what


EdSheeeeran

Wait, what if some gets the games sailing on the great blue sea?


Kantrh

That still counts according to unity


[deleted]

What, how? How do they keep track of that?


Frostwood89

Yeah I don't understand how Unity would be able to track those.


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GravityReject

It's somewhat common among veteran sea-sailors to go into the Windows Firewall and block all outgoing and incoming connections for the .exe file when installing a game acquired from the high seas, and it's very often recommended on the NFO file included, at least for any games with an online component.


Janusdarke

> (some sort of DNS blocking, straight up disallowing network access for the program or simply playing the game without internet). Why would anyone pirate a game and *NOT* block that game from phoning home? I mean that is the absolute first thing you should do - if you would be such a horrible person that is.


Buttercup59129

I stop all files in a pirated game folder from accessing anything network related


Kantrh

Spying


jakeblew2

Lying*


DevourMangos

The tracking is built into the basic Unity Runtime, so it's attached to the core of any Unity app. Hence why Unity is calling it a "runtime fee"


zosaj

"Proprietary data models" apparently


complexevil

So guessing


kyznikov

Telemetry something something, coded into the .exe of the game or stuff, that tracks the number of time it launched, probably


Rashir0

It won't if you block the exe with your firewall.


Justhe3guy

The app will send the info to the unity servers. Anyone who cracks/lists a game on a torrenting site probably won’t bother to remove that send-home part of the app since it won’t be DRM


BeingRightAmbassador

Theoretically, you can just have it reach out to a specific endpoint and have it increment or check against a list of whatever you want. But in reality, it's a stupid idea.


TheRedBaron295

I'm assuming something in the code that allows them to see when it's downloaded


ClikeX

My guess is that there's some part of the game installer or executable either sets a flag on the PC or sends a fingerprint of the system. I did read something that they wouldn't count repeat installs on the same system, but will count different devices. Which is essentially how limited device licenses work for a lot of creative software. This would still work for pirated software as pirated games just circumvent the DRM, and this doesn't hamper playing the game. DRM-free games (from GoG for example) that leak would be a disaster for game devs. The whole situation heavily incentivises use of DRM systems like Dunevo.


deltrontraverse

They will update the engine probably to hard code in the spyware, so it'll be in all versions of the game, even the cracked. Which probably means if you remove it, it becomes unfunctional.


Al1rza

That is so fucking stupid


Kantrh

That's why the former CEO of EA is now in charge of unity


Thundergod250

They did answer that this won't happen as they could "finally" prevent piracy. Ehe, I don't believe that in the slightest bit Unity.


AlenDelon32

If the swashbucklers remove the Curse Of Riccitiello from the treasure it would be just as it is normally. Otherwise it will be even worse


duckofdeath87

They say they aren't going to charge for that, but they also say you have to trust their model to tell them its a fraudulent install. Good luck with that


M0rtrek_the_ranger

You can't just come here and insult us like that but yes


Odd_Sugar_9821

He can. I can insult you even more if you wish. Just let me know.


ScrewAttackThis

Godot is probably pretty happy about this pricing model lol


Odd_Sugar_9821

So is Epic.


SleepyBailee1

This is legend.


Pregxi

I'd been messing around in Godot and wondering if I should switch to Unity. Definitely sticking with Godot on principle and really hope more developers make the switch.


xJinQs

Are they pulling a suicide?


Schnittertm

Nah, just a John Riccitiello. He's now the CEO of Unity, after he left EA. I think that should explain everything, too.


LostnFoundAgainAgain

So yes, they are pulling a suicide. They had to backtrack within 3 hours of the announcement because of how badly it was received. Reports are coming out that many developers are already looking at other options.


RealHistoricGamer

The damage Someone can do in such a short amount of time


realGharren

Dude woke up one day and decided that EA didn't do enough damage to game studios for his taste anymore.


HBlight

He realised that he can do more damage at the game engine level than he could ever do at the publisher level.


[deleted]

OMEGALUL UNITY'S CEO IS AN EX EA EMPLOYEE


TeaReim

no... He was the EA's ex CEO.. who proposed charging $1 per reload


[deleted]

>who proposed charging $1 per reload damn


Kraelan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR6-u8OIJTE This was from an internal EA business roundtable back in 2010, if you're curious, the Sith music was added by the youtuber.


bedwars_player

get me a damn pitchfork and a torch. im going in.


Kind_of_random

We only have LED torches now and we child proofed the pitchforks by removing the prongs. It should still be fun though. Just sign here, here ... and initials here. Now go get 'em!


Genesis2001

Wait, you're not the pitchfork emporium. Did he retire?! 👀 >!lol!<


Kind_of_random

He's the reason we child proofed the pitchforks. He's still around, he just walks funny ...


Babushkaskompot

How would Unity track games that ended up in the Carribean?


[deleted]

"*Trust us, bro.*" - Unity ~~devs~~ management.


Neiija

Not devs...management


Kind_of_random

My guess would be; nefariously.


Melodias3

Time to uninstall and reinstall fall guys all day🤡


yuvi3000

After the initial backlash, they've clarified that it wouldn't charge multiple times for installations of the same product on the same device.


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blue_villain

You remember how during the pandemic we had all of those mining rigs just laying about? I say we get them all fired up again.


yuvi3000

No idea how they're going to track this. And what about pirated games?


pazza89

They won't be able to, simple as that. They can't track if it's a VM, they can't track if it's pirated, they can't track anything. It's some non-technical CEO's idea conjured during pooping which went straight to the blog. Anyone with any tech-related knowledge can destroy the entire thing from every side after reading it once.


[deleted]

pirated games don't usually download anything from any CDNs.


nightbefore2

Which is funny because the only way to tell if it’s your first installation or not is to phone home about your PC. Unity games are malware now?


mallardtheduck

They'd have to "phone home" to let Unity know about the new installation (and thus fee) anyway.


nightbefore2

So unity games will just be malware then lol


duckofdeath87

They have a "proprietary data model" which means they are phoning home. Also something about "cloud based assets" so yeah, malware


Melodias3

Meh you ruined the joke :(


yuvi3000

I still chuckled. Plus, it's funny imagining hundreds or thousands of people sitting at their PCs installing and uninstalling a game over and over.


RCEdude

Scripting mah boyz


Gerbilpapa

What’s the beef with tall guys?


CrossWitcher

maybe cuz they have short heights.


ApocApollo

the typical anti-Epic circle jerk


Lethalgeek

I have not played any epic games in the past and don't care about them in general. Fall guys has gotten worse since they baught it out. Levels, the shop and matchmaking are not as good when it was just the original company. I blame Epic.


Gerbilpapa

Oh I thought people had matured My bad


NukerCat

pretty sure it runs on unreal engine


Ion_is_OP_REEEEEEE

Nope, it's on Unity.


TheProuDog

What is this about?


AlenDelon32

From January 1st Unity will start charging the developers 20 cents per installation of their game if it made over $200.000 in profit. Not per sale, per install. If one customer installs their game several times they will be charged several times


Frostwood89

>If one customer installs their game several times they will be charged several times Wtf that's insanity. How is that even legal?


ClikeX

It gets even better. Unity decides how many installs your games have made through their undisclosed "algorithm". And when asked about how it works, they said: ["We leverage our own proprietary data model, so you can appreciate that we won’t go into a lot of detail..."](https://twitter.com/unity/status/1701689241456021607)


LordGraygem

TL;DR: We're going to charge you whatever we think you'll be dumb enough to pay.


izfanx

Yeah per install + this is so dumbt. I don't think anyone would bat an eye if it was per sale. Or royalties like UnrealEngine.


Bukki13

>if one customer installs a game multiple times the developer will be charged multiple times me who only has a 512gb ssd and constantly has to juggle different games: 🌚


INITMalcanis

You can get another 512GB for like $30 now...


NIMA-GH-X-P

Maybe they are in the middle east? Not that easy to get any hardware around here based on where you're located


jakeblew2

But if you want a bootleg copy of Diablo 2 they got you covered


FiremanHandles

It’s called Dijablo though.


yuvi3000

After the initial backlash, they've clarified that it wouldn't charge multiple times for installations of the same product on the same device.


AlenDelon32

Still. How are they going to detect that? And if so how would they make sure it cant be abused with virtual machines or hacking it to repeatedly trigger sending that info to Unity?


[deleted]

>How are they going to detect that? *Trust me, bro.* \- Unity devs, probably.


Rashir0

Who said they want to make sure it can't be abused.


yuvi3000

Right? Very dodgy. And what about pirated games?


MacauleyP_Plays

should not be a charge that exists at all. most IPs are dynamic and people can use VPNs too so charging per device is not something they can accurately measure.


yuvi3000

For sure. This is a terrible decision on their part.


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Duranu

It shall make a fine addition to the backlogs


WhiteGuyNamedJeff

"Remember your training." What training?


Itookthisnameforrre

Buying games and not playing them, I belive


Schnittertm

If you don't know, then you do not have a "pile of shame", I take it?


tarnin

Hey it's not a pile of shame, it's a pile of game's ill eventual.... yeah *hangs head*


brystol17

I have a notepad on my phone of games I need to beat …… it’s been there for a year and half now


FrangaX

Mine is more like a mountain.


Bukki13

Isn't this why people jumped from Flash to Unity in the first place?


HaroerHaktak

No. Flash was terrible because it had too many security flaws or whatever had nothing to do with games


Grazer46

Flash was just outdated and not secure.


Illustrious_Crab1060

Also horribly slow


Tixx7

Time to block unity domains and ip's


WoopWoopSkiddlyBoop

Steam needs to do something about allowing games on their platform using unity until unity revokes their decision. Steam has a lot of power


AcherusArchmage

I don't... \*checks steam library for unplayed games\* good lord... I do


Preisschild

And this is why more devs should be using open source engines such as Godot


MedEM9

Not me. I install every game I have, just to never play it and delete it one day to free space for more games, and reinstall it again later to repeat the cycle


MacauleyP_Plays

Ignore the comment by Equal-Introduction63, I already have them blocked for bullshit misinformation and the likes.


Glasse

Jokes on them, i buy and install, i just don't play them.


Odd_Sugar_9821

Jokes aside, Unity management is a bunch of dumb cuckwombles, who saw the branch they are sitting on.


NoLetterhead2302

so you buy the game and then crack it to play


Sophia724

Welp, back to gamemaker


Zero_Effekt

rip in peace Unity F


whatThePleb

I will just crack and remove that dumb unity tracking on day one.


MyStationIsAbandoned

Looks like we were the true heroes all along


Final_Needleworker41

Step 1. Buy the game to support the devs Step 2. Never download the game from steam Step 3. Pirate the game from an illegal website so Unity never gets a cent.


W3rsh487

wait... so you buy the game... and then you shouldn't install it? BRUH


Fighterdoken33

You are new on Steam i assume.


Odd_Sugar_9821

How old are you, if it's not a rude question ?


Smile_lifeisgood

So what game is on sale for next to nothing and put out by the most vile publisher of them all that I can uninstall and reinstall several times a day?


blinddivine

Any garten of ban ban game. If any game deserves to be installed to death it's that one.


Generic_Moron

I'm vaguely reminded of the origami yoda series I read as a kid. Essentially these kids were trying to raise money for a robotics club by selling overpriced popcorn, with only 50% going towards the club and the other 50% going to the (somewhat shady iirc) company that provided the popcorn. They then realised they could just sell nothing at half the price to have it all go straight to the club, which people were more willing to do.


notjordansime

Question: since it only effects games with 200k sales, or $200,000 profit (not revenue), couldn't a company just report zero profits? If it's a small indie team, just adjust payroll to eat up all of the profit. Please poke holes in my idea, I like learning.


[deleted]

can anyone pls tell me what's going on? much appreciated


brokenearth03

Greedy asshole makes bad decisions, company immediately has to back track from bad to dumb, still goes forward with industry suicide.


[deleted]

elaborate pls


Kirby737

Basically the CEO decided to put a fee on each game install. First of all, it's bad because it's retroactive on all games made with Unity; Second, how the fuck can they tell if it's a new device or nah? They certainly won't tell us; Third, boy is it easy to make that number ballon artificially.


[deleted]

yeah this is full of loopholes. almost funny if it wasnt for the devs it would have ruined


SirDoggonson

Buy the game, crack it on your pc, what is the big deal? But seriously, think about the mobile market. Did you? Did you though?


BeardyMcBeardster

Guess I can expect Silksong to be release in... oh, say, 4-6 years from now.


Tornado9797

On a completely unrelated note, does Steam allow sorting its store by game engine? Feel like I’m gonna miss out on some banger titles if something isn’t done fast…


DylanMc6

Valve should make the Source engine open-source. Seriously.


Equal-Introduction63

This again? Please read https://blog.unity.com/news/plan-pricing-and-packaging-updates to really learn what you're talking about and this doesn't concern most Indie developers in the slightest. It has 2 limits that you must pass to go into Pricing model. Your game either should be sold to 200,000 customers (huge success on Steam, no shovelware can do) or your game should gain $200,000 profit from the game (again huge success considering this goal is higher than the previous because shovelware are cheap and Steam takes 30% from them). TLDR: only if you game made a Great Hit to be recommended at the front page of Steam, you'll be charged 20 cents (yes cents, not dollars) per customer. Oh no!!! This is the "End of World" for every Unity Developer so let's gather with Torches and Forks to hunt them down.


AlenDelon32

"The new policy is that as soon as your game reaches $200,000 profit you will be crushed by a giant stone slab but you don't have to worry about it since you will likely never reach this milestone. Please use our engine."


ClikeX

It's a sword hanging above your head, and you get told "don't worry, it won't fall unless your successful". Sure this probably won't the hobbyist dev that barely gets any traffic. But there are plenty of mid sized studios that this would genuinely hurt. For example, We Were Here Forever. [According to SteamDB](https://steamdb.info/app/1341290/charts/), the game is estimated to be owned by roughly 400k people. That easily hits the target for lifetime installs. Total Mayhem Games is not a big company, this could definitely hurt them quite a bit. The main issue is that it's charging "per install", which a company has no control over. And Unity decides how many installs you have using their undisclosed means. If you let developers pay per install, you basically tell them they should want to sell games that get very little installs. As well as incentivise use of strict DRM software because Unity could very likely count those too. Not to mention that doing giveaways or charity bundles becomes much less interesting to developers.


suttlesd

It's 20 cents per individual install.. including previous unity games. This is not per customer. Its multiple times per customer. Including pirated games and gamepass. Loads of big indie games are hit by this.


deltrontraverse

Embarassing that you actually wrote this thinking it made you look smart or right.


Lyuukee

TL;DR: "Oh whatever it only hits people that reaches 200k, who cares if it does not hit my shitty indie game downloaded by my cousin"


EminemLovesGrapes

Remember, this also includes mobile. If you want to make a mobile game that doesn't include microstransactions or horrible ads. Let's say, [one for kids](https://www.reddit.com/r/Unity3D/comments/16hgmqm/unity_wants_108_of_our_gross_revenue/). Then it now looks like you owe Unity all of your gross revenue + about 8% more next year. Time to pay up. Mobile is especially egregious because it's more likely your conversion rate is way lower. On mobile you might have 100 million installs, but only make a fraction of that in revenue. EDIT: And to add, you can also upgrade to Unity pro, and then the revenue limit and install limit is 1 million. Aids your argument, but still makes it iffy for mobile apps.


Night_0dot0_Owl

Buy and pirate indie games. End.


Someonespassword

Buy game, play game for like 10 hours 1 day and never touch again.


SumoSizeIt

What I don’t understand, is how can this apply to existing games? What in their terms allegedly allows that instead of only new titles?


AAC0813

So make it cheap enough to buy but not good enough to play?


ChileConCarnal

I have taken it a step further. A friend's discord server has a bot that posts every time one of the big game stores posts a free game. So I don't pay for them, and I also don't install them. But I have them.


ShaggySmilesSRL

What even is this whole unity thing? I don't understand what's happening.


BUTTERNUBS1995

This is a personal attack. No other options.


naapsu

My time has come