Unity CEO Matthew Bromberg has spoken out about the runtime fee dispute and why it took the company a year to reverse its decision.
Speaking at GamesBeat Next 2024 in October, Bromberg said solving the runtime fee was his first priority after being named CEO in May.
“The first thing I did was get on a plane and start flying around the world to ask people […] how they connected with us,” Bromberg explained. “How specifically has the per-run fee affected them? What did they think was the best way to fix it?
“I've been told over and over again around the world that people value Unity as a partner, but they didn't like how we were connecting with them. They didn't like that we didn't consult with them.” they didn't like how we planned to charge them.”
This response has led to Unity entering a period of deep consultation with its partners, customers and developers.
“A lot of people were surprised at how long it took us to announce the return of the per-run fee back to a more traditional subscription model, but how we did it was just as important to me, if not more so, than what we were going to do do. ” he added.
“Making sure everyone knew in advance that there would be no surprises, that we fully understood all the issues – that was very important. It's not just about the running fee, which is just one decision. Our intention is to make all these decisions about the company the same way.”
The per-run fee was introduced last September, which would have seen Unity levy a fee for each installation of a Unity game once specific revenue and install thresholds had been reached.
After an immediate backlash, the per-run fee for personal users was removed later that month. The fee was completely abolished in September 2024.