Unity Tech. to new developers; development for console is no longer free

Gamasutra - Going forward, Unity devs will need Unity Pro to publish on consoles

For the first time in years, Unity tech. has actually removed a feature from the free version and locked it behind a paywall. That feature was the ability to develop for consoles.

Now to be clear, they did not yank the feature away from people who already have a key from Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo, but it could be a preview of what might come now that Unity is a public company (which means shareholder unrest if they do not increase their revenue annually). For new developers, that means having to look at other engines to find a very low cost of entry to the world of consoles (as we’re not even talking about Unity Plus here, but Unity Pro only).

Along with some of their new packages also behind paywalls, it will be interesting to see whether Unity goes back to being a pricey option for those who don’t want various limitations all over (like no splash screen customization). They do not have that many competitors at the moment (especially in the area of third party assets) so they might be able to tighten the screws a bit without killing their revenue.

They should follow the UE model - build a popular game in-house, release it for free with pay-for cosmetics, then continue to support/update it. Simple. :wink: Basically, they need a signature title to show off the engine… I know PGA Tour 2k21 uses Unity and it’s been very successful, so it can be done, but I’ll bet most folks don’t know or care.

When it comes to publicly-traded corporations, satisfying the shareholders is always more important than doing what’s best for the long run. Shame, really.

Back when I last used unity you needed to buy exporters for each of the platforms including the phone platforms anyways. And I had bought them only to never use them anyways.

I honestly think it’s fine tho. If you can realistically expect to earn a profit it is worth getting commercial/professional support for the platforms too. I don’t see how that would realistically be viable on a free tier anyways.