Founder of Facepunch Studios, Garry Newman, criticized the annual fees his studio must pay Unity.
Rust
Interestingly, in his post, Newman did not mention the engine's name, but from the context, it is clear he was referring to Unity.
Recently, he had a discussion with the company. According to the developer, Unity stated that the studio now must pay at least $500,000 a year for using other company services.
Recall that one of Facepunch's games, the online survival game Rust, which sold over 16 million copies, is made with this engine. Another well-known project by the studio, the sandbox game Garry’s Mod, uses Source.
In a separate comment, Newman clarified that Facepunch already pays Unity for an Enterprise license—a subscription for developers with an annual revenue exceeding $25 million.
Its exact cost is negotiated individually today, but Newman emphasized that $500,000 exceeds the fee for Enterprise. For instance, in 2022, the license cost $3,000 per seat per year.
“It doesn't matter whether you can afford to pay that amount or not. The point is that it's no longer a licensing fee, but a royalty,” Newman stated.
In August, he already criticized Unity for such high prices: “I don’t want to pay Unity $500,000 a year and then still pay my employees to optimize and fix their engine.”
Partly for this reason, Newman and his team are working on the s&box project, which will serve as both an engine and a platform for UGC games (authors will be able to export their creations to stores like Steam and earn from them).