Unity was met with substantial criticism when the company announced the Runtime Fee — a pricing structure that charged game developers and users of the Unity game engine a percentage of their revenue if they crossed a certain threshold of engagements or gross revenue. While the Runtime Fee would only apply to games developed in or ported to Unity 6, Unity recently scrapped the new fee structure altogether before Unity 6 LTS was even released.

In cancelling the Runtime Fee, Unity will now depend entirely on the per-seat subscription fee, which recently saw a price increase — possibly in an attempt to mitigate some of the revenue lost from the removal of the Runtime Fee. Unity also recently changed the revenue cap for Unity Personal from $100,000 annually to $200,000 annually, which should make it easier for solo developers and small indie outfits to develop their games cheaply.

As of January 2025, Unity's pricing structure will be as follows:

• Unity Personal: Free — no change to pricing, revenue ceiling increased to $200,000.
• Unity Pro: $2,200 per seat per year — 8% increase from $2,040 per seat per year.
• Unity Enterprise: No pricing given, but a 25% increase was announced.

According to the announcement, Unity is dropping the Runtime Fee in an effort to “democratise game development,” citing meetings in which game developers expressed frustration about the Runtime Fee.

Check outUnity From Zero to Proficiency (Foundations): A step-by-step guide to creating your first game on Amazon.