Engines, Offices, and Storage Media: Not all is well in the World of Gaming

Understanding the ramifications of announcements from Unity, Ubisoft, and Microsoft

Unity’s desire to cash in

The past fortnight has seen a significant stir within gaming circles following Unity Technologies’ announcement of a new tariff plan for its popular cross-platform game engine, Unity.

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This new pricing strategy aimed to fundamentally alter how the company billed game developers for using its engine, introducing a “runtime fee” determined by the number of game installations. As expected, this announcement sparked widespread criticism across social media, with game developers discussing strategies to switch engines and outlining the challenges game makers of various sizes would encounter due to the new pricing policy.

For the average gamer, the new proposed tariff implementation would bring about a significant transformation in game development. To provide context, creators of large AAA titles rarely depend on third-party game engines, as they have invested substantial resources in developing in-house capabilities (consider EA with Frostbite and CryEngine, Ubisoft with Dunia and AnvilNext, or Rockstar with RAGE).

It’s the small game developers and indie studios that heavily rely on engines like Unity. Therefore, by introducing a per-installation fee, Unity Technologies would essentially penalize successful indie games for their popularity. This move could seriously hinder the aspirations and long-term growth of emerging game studios.

However, not all is lost as in the interim chaos (since the announcement) a lot of game makers have begun to experiment with newer engines like Godot and the backlash has forced Unity’s makers to rethink their pricing strategy.

By last Friday they had rolled back most of the proposed changes as it tried to placate long time partners and the wider gaming industry. However, will scorned game makers return to the familiar comforts of an aging engine (Unity was launched in 2006 after all) or are they too wary of a greedy company they can’t control is something only time will tell.

In the meantime, a need for fairer pricing and revenue-sharing models is a conversation that all in the industry must champion.

Ubisoft calls people back to Montreal office

During the days of the pandemic when “work from home” (WFH) became the norm, reports from IGN and employee accounts indicated that Ubisoft’s Montreal headquarters had given workers the assurance of “100 percent remote long-term” work.

Many employees made significant life decisions based on this assurance, such as purchasing homes away from Montreal. However, IGN’s report reveals that the indefinite WFH arrangement for over 4,000 employees at Ubisoft Montreal has now come to an end as of September 11th. Employees are apparently now required to work in the office for two days a week, a decision that has sparked division and controversy.

In an environment where layoffs and firings have become commonplace, it’s challenging for external observers not to interpret Ubisoft’s decisions as an informal strategy aimed at selectively filtering out certain segments of its workforce.

Microsoft bidding goodbye to the Disk Drive

If recent leaked renders of the mid-generation refresh for the Xbox Series X are accurate, the console is expected to feature a new cylindrical design, come with a new controller, and eliminate the optical disk drive.

This choice aligns with the current configuration of the lower-priced Series S. It would mark the first time that none of the current-generation Xbox consoles would accommodate physical media. While this spells the end for the used games market and the practice of selling games in stores, the purchase of physical games has steadily declined across formats. Most games on PC and mobile platforms are inherently digital-only in nature.

This development could result in more revenue for both Xbox and Sony in the long run. However, it represents a significant loss for the larger gaming community, because games could no longer be shared across networks of players and it would simply no longer be possible to forge friendships while sharing a new CoD or FIFA on launch weekend.