This announcement was made by the company's CEO and President, Matthew Bromberg. The change has already taken effect.
Thus, Unity Technologies is reverting to its previous monetization model — solely subscription-based. The good news doesn't end there.
Previously, the free Unity Personal plan was only available to developers whose annual revenue did not exceed $100,000. This limit has now been increased to $200,000.
Additionally, with the use of Unity 6, developers on the free subscription plan will now be able to remove the previously mandatory "Made with Unity" label.
However, there are some downsides:
▫️the new changes do not affect non-gaming companies (which Unity Technologies classifies under the Industry category);
▫️the cost of Unity's paid plans will increase starting January 1, 2025 — Unity Pro will go up by 8% (developers are required to switch to it if their annual revenue exceeds $200,000), and Unity Enterprise will rise by 25% (required for those earning over $25 million annually).
Matthew explained the cancellation of the Runtime Fee by stating that Unity Technologies cannot democratize game development while conflicting with its own clients. According to him, game developers understand the increase in service costs as long as they do not occur in "controversial and unusual forms."