Following Unity’s pricing fee disaster, indie game developers can enjoy using the GameMaker Engine for free, so long as they don’t charge users for their games.
For those unaware of the pricing issue, the game engine Unity, responsible for titles like Hollow Knight and Subnautica, released a new runtime fee that made developers pay each time a user downloaded their game.
Immerse yourself in the hauntingly beautiful world of "Hollow Knight," where every step unveils secrets and challenges waiting to be conquered. With its captivating art style and intricate gameplay, embark on an epic journey filled with mystery, danger, and discovery unlike any other.
This decision, Polygon notes, has led to an adverse reaction from devs who have taken to leaving and boycotting the engine, compelling Unity to backtrack on most of its runtime fee policy.
Even so, this lost trust and inability to pay for later versions of the runtime fee has prompted the massive withdrawal of indie developers from Unity, compelling them to leverage other engines instead.
Chief among these is GameMaker, the engine responsible for hit indie games like Undertale and Chicory: A Colorful Tale, which has chosen to make their engine free for non-commercial use.
While they never mention Unity but refer to the “recent awkward moves with pricing and trust,” GamesIndustyBiz notes, it is relatively clear they’re referring to the struggling engine, claiming that their success is “measured by the number of people making games!”
Though GameMaker will still charge a one-time fee of $99.99 for commercial use on PCs and a $79.99 monthly fee for consoles, the engine is also making its asset bundles free, pushing the engine to be even more accessible.
For indie devs looking to get into making games or avoid Unity’s ruinous runtime fee, GameMaker is looking like an increasingly wiser alternative for making games.
One can only hope GameMaker doesn’t concoct a runtime policy of its own and drive its indie developers away.
Will Gamemaker Force Unity To Remove Its Runtime Fee Policy?
Given the heavy blowback and steps towards backtracking on their policy, Polygon notes, it’s conceivable that Unity will remove their runtime fee policy in its entirety to regain developer loyalty and users of the platform.
Even if the runtime fee was made to cover Unity’s losses, the fee has still cost the engine more in losing users of its program.
Whether Unity will be able to weather its decision or end up removing the policy remains to be seen, though its loss in developer trust is likely to remain.
Immerse yourself in the hauntingly beautiful world of "Hollow Knight," where every step unveils secrets and challenges waiting to be conquered. With its captivating art style and intricate gameplay, embark on an epic journey filled with mystery, danger, and discovery unlike any other.
Further reading
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