Unity's big announcement and what it might mean

Unity, the engine Death Game+ and most of my games use, is changing its revshare model. Starting Jan 1st, all Unity games above certain statistics will be required to pay $0.20 per install, or modify their games to use Unity's adware. Additionally, all games, whether they opt or not, will soon have generative AI based on stolen, copyrighted works added to their runtime (the released game). The implication is that this can't be added recursively, to older games like mine, but this change creates a new vector that practically anyone can use to shut my studio down.

If you've been paying attention to Valve's storefront censorship lately, you'll know that as of now Valve is not allowing AI content on Steam. If Unity moves forward with forcefully adding AI content into the unity runtime, every game made with Unity on Steam is at risk of getting removed. Cuphead, Beat Saber, Hearthstone, Cities Skylines, Among Us, and many more, and there's no guarantee that even if Death Game+ and my other games don't use AI, and never will as much as possible, they may get caught in the crossfire and delisted.

Additionally, Unity has not yet announced how they'll be tracking installs. Steam does not have this data available, and it is the dominant storefront. This implies that Unity will be adding some kind of spyware to collect this data. They also could be adding DRM, and this is all without the consent of the developers. Like most software, this spyware is likely to have flaws, and be abusable, and though Unity claims they will filter out re-installs, this is executive fluff and there is no realistic way to actually achieve that without partnering with storefronts for decades in advance. They have announced this change with... 3 months to act, less actually. There is also no mention of updates, or bugfixes being an exception, meaning that I could be financially penalized for maintaining the game.

While the unity tax doesn't effect me personally yet, it will, and will create enough debt that I would have to stop creating video games to manage it. There's not enough information yet to know definitively if that is the result on the way, or not. If Unity forces me to, either through the inclusion of AI or a tax for existing (Death Game was made with Unity 2015, at a time when the entirety of Unity was free for all purposes.)

I may have to delist all of my Unity games, including those on itchio, google play, or otherwise released for free online, which is about 15 games, the equivalent of about 10 years of work, or quit the industry entirely. Those are the stakes.

I'm sorry this has happened this way, but it is unfortunately out of my control, almost entirely. I will try to transition out of Unity to Godot, but that may mean ending long-term support for all of these games. Please continue to follow me on steam, itch, or youtube for updates:

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/developer/EnembyGames

Itch: https://fracturedminddev.itch.io/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY2vs3m_lCzwOy3t3A_CBqg