Unity closes offices after receiving death threats, another development in video games scandal

The microcosm of indie video games has been talking about only one thing for a few days now: Unity. If this name doesn’t mean anything to you, know that he is definitely one of the biggest players in the industry. Unity is a game engine, that is, software that brings together all the components and elements necessary for the development of a video game. Particularly versatile, but above all free, this program is widely appreciated by independent studios that do not have the opportunity to create their own engine.

However, yesterday Unity announced that it was closing its offices in Austin and San Francisco following its decision. “Credible death threats”. John Riccitiello, the company’s CEO and arguably the most hated man in the industry today, was originally scheduled to give a presentation to his employees, but it was canceled at the last minute due to security concerns. “We took immediate and proactive measures to ensure the safety of our employees, which is our top priority.” a spokesperson told the Rock Paper Shotgun website. How did we get here?

Why is the video game world turning against Unity?

It all starts on September 12, when Unity publishes the blog post that will light the fuse. Inside, the company details the new price list for its engine. As of January 1, 2024, All games with more than 200,000 downloads will be subject to tax.. It’s not uncommon for free engines to charge developers above a certain threshold, but this announcement is unprecedented in the industry for several reasons.

The main reason for the controversy lies in Unity’s decision to pay developers number of downloadsand not the number of sales. This announcement caused a wave of panic in the industry. What about games on Game Pass or PlayStation Plus? Does this precaution apply to demos? What happens if a player uninstalls and reinstalls a game? What about piracy? For many studios whose finances are already fragile, the observation is clear: Publishing a game now means risking bankruptcy.

Faced with growing controversy, Unity backed down and issued a press release providing important clarifications to the price list. Finally, downloads made through Game Pass will be billed to Microsoft (nothing has been requested from anyone), downloads of demos and charity packs or pirated games will not be taken into account. But it’s too late, the damage has been done. Trust between developers and Unity has been broken and one question remains unanswered: How does Unity plan to differentiate between downloads?

Unity scandal: studio abandonment, insider trading… now what?

Here’s what led to these death threats Unity received: A few hours after the press release was published, Polygon managed to track down the source of these threats. According to media, these were posted by a Unity employee working in offices outside California. Yesterday, Several employees admitted on social networks that they opposed this new price scale within the companywithout attracting the attention of management.

Recently, press releases from studios using Unity on social networks have increased. Everyone comes to the same conclusion: From now on, they won’t use the software anymore. But the problem of games in development arises. Many smaller studios will at least have to change engines along the way, which represents a huge financial cost.

So the future is uncertain, at least for many games. Hollow Knight, Ori and the Blind Forest, Firewatch, Subnautica… All of these successful games were developed on Unity, and we may never see a game that can achieve similar success. One thing is for sure, we don’t have everything clear on this yet. While writing these lines, John Riccitiello is heavily suspected of insider trading. In fact, he resold thousands of shares a few days before the new price list was announced.