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[unity-logo-black]

Unity is offering a Runtime Fee waiver if you switch to LevelPlay as
it tries to "kill AppLovin"

By Neil Long / 14th September 2023

 

Unity is quietly offering developers a Runtime Fee waiver if they
switch to its LevelPlay mediation platform, we're told.

"They just want to kill AppLovin", said one developer.

Studios currently using Unity's LevelPlay mediation platform have
already been offered a 100% Runtime Fee waiver, sources have told us.
Unity account managers are also telling developers not using
LevelPlay that if they switch over from main rival AppLovin or any
other UA platform they can then unlock a Runtime Fee waiver of
80-100%.

UA consultant Matej Lancaric says this is an "attempt to destroy"
Unity competitor AppLovin, which is "miles ahead" of Unity's
LevelPlay service in terms of both ad monetisation and UA.

[Unity-runtime-fees]From yesterday: 'Unity's unreal pay-per-install
plan leaves mobile devs stunned - and potentially out of business'.

"This puts the whole Runtime Fee announcement in the 'mediation war'
spotlight," Lancaric told us. "Unity is saying 'migrate to LevelPlay
or you will need to pay a shit-ton of money'. For those smaller
developers, there is no other option but to migrate to LevelPlay
mediation to save their companies. The rest are already thinking
about Godot or Cocos2D."

Unity's Runtime Fee announcement has prompted a furious reaction from
across the mobile games business. As we reported yesterday, Unity
suggested that developers could qualify for a discount on the Runtime
Fee if they used its other services, but urged its customers to
contact their account managers for more information. Now we know why.

[Screenshot-2023-09-14-at-13]This passage in yesterday's announcement
is perhaps deliberately vague; behind the scenes Unity is actually
offering Runtime Fee waivers for those switching mediation to
LevelPlay, we're told.

One senior figure in the mediation business had this to say: "Of
course Unity had to fight back after what has been a tremendous run
for AppLovin this year - they have been killing it and growing market
share. I don't think Unity did a good job of anticipating client
reaction though. It's been a while since we saw such a unanimous war
cry from the industry, not even IDFA deprecation was this
mismanaged."

"The industry is tied into 2-3 large mediation providers who wall off
any attempt at competition, move towards bidding despite the hit to
CPMs and then limit their demand to clients using their mediation,"
they added.

It's an incredibly aggressive move from Unity, and one that
developers told us has originated from the IronSource side of the
business. Unity acquired the mediation platform last summer after a
brief three-way buyout drama; a Unity and IronSource merger was
announced in July, but AppLovin tried to hijack the deal by making
its own, unsolicited offer to merge with Unity. It was rejected.

We have contacted Unity for comment on this report and will update
this story if we get a response.

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[Unity-runtime-fees]

Unity's unreal pay-per-install plan leaves mobile devs stunned - and
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