Before Unity and its competitors emerged, each game was custom made, with graphics and everything else built from the ground up.Unity, a US company whose software is used to create and run thousands of games including smash hits like"Pokemon GO" announced on September 12 new fees for developers. But analysts warned that the move could collapse studios and nix new releases.
Ten days later, after a spirited and often vulgarity-laden fightback from studios and developers, Unity rowed back some of the changes."If I'm forced to accept the current conditions, I will leave," Alain Puget, director of the French studio Alkemi, told AFP. Its software platform was cheap and easy to use, and quickly became a favourite for independent and smaller developers.
The firm, which projects revenues of $2 billion this year, has instituted several waves of layoffs and alienated users by tweaking the software and pricing.The first proposal they made was completely disconnected from reality. The firm returned with an apology where it said things like"we heard your concerns" and"you are what makes Unity great", and it made a new offer to limit the levy to the most successful games.
While some developers issued heartfelt letters, others resorted to images of raised middle fingers in front of the Unity logo, or short messages with obscenities of discontent.