https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/09/potential-threat-shuts-two-unity-offices-after-per-install-fee-announcement/

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This is not the way --

Unity shuts two offices, citing threats after controversial pricing
changes

San Francisco HQ and Austin office closed through Friday, CEO town
hall delayed.

Kyle Orland - Sep 14, 2023 7:59 pm UTC

The common "Powered by Unity" logo
Enlarge / The common "Powered by Unity" logo

reader comments

122 with

 

Further Reading

Unity's new "per-install" pricing enrages the game development
community
Unity Technologies has temporarily closed two of its offices amid
what the company says are threats to employee safety. The move
follows Tuesday's announcement of a highly controversial new fee
structure for the company's popular Unity Engine.

News of the closures started dripping out via social media this
morning, with employees describing "credible threats" reported to law
enforcement and "safety threats" targeting the company's San
Francisco and Austin, Texas, offices. "Surprising how far people are
willing to go in today's age," Unity Product Manager Utsav Jamwal
wrote. "Unfortunate."

In a statement provided to multiple news outlets, a Unity
spokesperson said that the company had "been made aware of a
potential threat to some of our offices. We have taken immediate and
proactive measures to ensure the safety of our employees, which is
our top priority. We are closing our offices today and tomorrow that
could be potential targets for this threat, and are fully cooperating
with law enforcement on the investigation."

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A Bloomberg report confirmed that the Austin and San Francisco
offices had been closed and reported that the closure had led to the
cancellation of a planned employee town hall meeting led by CEO John
Riccitiello.

The game development community has been overwhelmingly united in
anger over Unity's new pricing structure, which will in January start
charging fees of up to $0.20 for every new install of Unity projects
(including projects developed or released before the fees were
announced). The sudden move comes after years of Unity proudly
touting itself as the royalty-free game engine option.

Slay the Spire-maker Mega Crit captured some of the anger in its
first-ever public statement, calling the new pricing structure "a
violation of trust." After two years of working on an upcoming Unity
project, the company became one of many developers now vowing that it
will be "migrating to a new engine unless the changes are completely
reverted and [terms of service] protections are put in place."

Garry Newman, creator of Garry's Mod and the Unity-based Rust, also
announced Wednesday that "Rust 2 definitely won't be a Unity game,"
because "Unity has shown its power. We can see what they can and are
willing to do. You can't un-ring that bell... The trust is gone."

LinkedIn lists just over 8,000 Unity employees. The company website
lists 39 offices worldwide, including 15 in North America.

reader comments

122 with
 
Kyle Orland Kyle Orland has been the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars
Technica since 2012, writing primarily about the business, tech, and
culture behind video games. He has journalism and computer science
degrees from University of Maryland. He once wrote a whole book about
Minesweeper.
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