• @eldritch_lich@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    959 months ago

    It’s almost funny. Honestly, the only way I can see them regaining any trust at all is by a complete change in leadership and increased transparency and accountability.

    I haven’t calculated how much the new revenue split would be on average so take this as a random scribble on a napkin, but I wouldn’t be surprised if most studios choose to never upgrade to the next version.

    Just remember, the current CEO was too greedy even for EA.

    • IHeartBadCode
      link
      fedilink
      489 months ago

      Just remember, the current CEO was too greedy even for EA

      John Riccitiello is his name. Dude has the anti-Midas touch. Everything he has ever touched turned to shit. How people keep hiring him is beyond me.

      That said, the board of directors is also part to blame for this. One name stands out, Roelof Botha. Same guy from Sequoia Capital that backed the whole Elon Musk taking a loan out for Twitter and old buddy of Musk’s from PayPal days. He’s also been known for some “choice” selections on where to put VC money.

      And of course you have Barry Schuler of “I made AOL popular” fame. So… Yeah, he’s a choice selection for the board as well.

      But on the other side of it, you’ve got David Helgason one of the co-founders of Unity who has been pretty vocal about “We fucked up!”. But to me that is a tell-tell that Riccitiello et al. sold the rest of the board on the change.

      Point being, the board is made up of hard going MFers who fuck up along the way and folks who are easily rolled over by promises of $$$. So while the CEO is indeed “a work of something”, the board is a perfect storm of “egos and pushovers”.

      Either way, yeah, I think that since literally no leadership change is coming from this “you put the same chemicals in, you’re absolutely going to get the same reaction out.” The only thing they have likely taken from this whole thing is that they cannot be as obvious about changes as they were.

      • @bstix@feddit.dk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        219 months ago

        Everything he has ever touched turned to shit. How people keep hiring him is beyond me.

        Some CEOs are hired for that specific purpose. If a board wants to do greedy shit they hire a fall guy. There are plenty of jobs for that guy.

    • Jaysyn
      link
      fedilink
      30
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      It’s not just the CEO, most of the Board are buddies with Elon. If the Board of Directors didn’t specifically want this, it wouldn’t be happening.

    • takeda
      link
      fedilink
      149 months ago

      It’s almost funny. Honestly, the only way I can see them regaining any trust at all is by a complete change in leadership and increased transparency and accountability.

      so obviously it is not happening, and by the time the CEO is replaced it will be too late

  • @gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    689 months ago

    Nope.

    You showed everyone who you are, Unity execs. You also pointedly did not even begin to address any of the other sketchy shit, like the vouchers you were handing out to try to sink AppLovin, or the silent and unannounced modification of your license agreement that was discovered by the community after the fact.

    Fuck all the way off.

  • @redcalcium@lemmy.institute
    link
    fedilink
    English
    399 months ago

    The new term seems very… reasonable. They took the lesson to the heart and won’t try to alter the deal again in the future, right? Right?

    • conciselyverbose
      link
      fedilink
      39 months ago

      It would have been perfectly fine if they did it this way to start. Tie the new licensing costs to a future engine version, give lead time before you start collecting data, and have the number be manageable.

      But trust in such an absolutely critical vendor that your entire business relies on, and they told you they’re perfectly fine trying to retroactively change contracts. The uncertainty of legal costs to protect your rights is a huge concern.

  • Jaysyn
    link
    fedilink
    31
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    Open letter to Unity:

    “Get fucked & then die in a fire sale.”

  • slazer2au
    link
    fedilink
    English
    289 months ago

    And the backpedaling continues. Here’s hoping the fireside chat actually happens this time.

    • @sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      259 months ago

      If they launched with this, I think the community would’ve been fine with it. But IMO the damage has been done, and a lot of indies are going to look elsewhere.

      • yukichigai
        link
        fedilink
        21
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        99% of it was them trying to make the new fee structure retroactively apply to already-released products, and the damage there has already been done. The fact that they think they can change the negotiated fee structure after the fact makes Unity a huge liability to use now. No one can ever be sure they won’t suddenly pull a “give us more money or stop selling your game” move sometime down the line.

        • @gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          11
          edit-2
          9 months ago

          But there’s also the sketchy (and anticompetitive, and potentially illegal in some jurisdictions) fee vouchers they were using to try to tank AppLovin’s customer base, as well as the silent and sneaky update of their license terms that everyone discovered after the fact. The “apology” makes absolutely no mention of those. And I find that incredibly telling (aside, of course, from the lack of exec team shakeup).

          • HolyDuckTurtle
            link
            fedilink
            49 months ago

            Yeah, in particular them saying now “You will keep the license of the version you use” rings very hollow when they literally showed they can retract that whenever they want ANd get a lawyer to defend that move in no uncertain terms.

            • @gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              English
              49 months ago

              Precisely. They’ve already done it, and the people who made that decision haven’t gone anywhere. They will definitely try something similar in the future.

  • @Redredme@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    259 months ago

    Trust is lost and will never come back.

    Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…

    I guess they’re feeling a disturbance in the force. Like as if millions of gamedevs suddenly screamed in pain and then switched their game engine.

  • @AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    189 months ago

    The tone of this blog post feels tryhard and pleading.

    Which makes me happy because it sounds like they realized, legitimately, that they fucked up and there is money on the line.

    Well, too late. Too bad. So sad. Cry more.

  • @Chailles@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    169 months ago

    Well, I mean, at least it’s good for anyone who working on a project now. Or rather, it’s not terrible for anyone working on a unity project now. It’s not going to clear up the black mark that went down the past week. It’s gonna get brought up every time Unity is mentioned.

  • @joekar1990@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    149 months ago

    Man a 2.5% revenue share definitely could add up especially for mobile you’d be giving close to 20% in revenue to either an app store or game engine.

    • ASeriesOfPoorChoices
      link
      fedilink
      English
      6
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      or the calculated amount based on the number of new people engaging with your game each month. Both of these numbers are self-reported from data you already have available. You will always be billed the lesser amount.

      But yeah. It does add up.

  • InEnduringGrowStrong@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    89 months ago

    Haha, I can’t even read their bullshit excuse because I blocked unity.com and unity3d.com. On the off chance that I play something made in unity, I wanted make sure they can’t collect stats.

    The CEO is a shitlord and the board isn’t any better.
    I feel for the people doing the actual work on unity, may they find better jobs somewhere that is not such a dumpster fire.

  • kratoz29
    link
    fedilink
    English
    89 months ago

    Yeah, how about not making any new policy changes and die already?