Unity Dev Group Dissolves After 13 Years Over 'Completely Eroded' Company Trust (arstechnica.com) 23
Kyle Orland writes via Ars Technica: The "first official Unity user group in the world" has announced that it is dissolving after 13 years because "the trust we used to have in the company has been completely eroded." The move comes as many developers are saying they will continue to stay away from the company's products even after last week's partial rollback of some of the most controversial parts of its fee structure plans.
Since its founding in 2010, the Boston Unity Group (BUG) has attracted thousands of members to regular gatherings, talks, and networking events, including many technical lectures archived on YouTube. But the group says it will be hosting its last meeting Wednesday evening via Zoom because the Unity of today is very different from the Dave Helgason-led company that BUG says "enthusiastically sanctioned and supported" the group at its founding.
"Over the past few years, Unity has unfortunately shifted its focus away from the games industry and away from supporting developer communities," the group leadership wrote in a departure note. "Following the IPO, the company has seemingly put profit over all else, with several acquisitions and layoffs of core personnel. Many key systems that developers need are still left in a confusing and often incomplete state, with the messaging that advertising and revenue matter more to Unity than the functionality game developers care about."
BUG says the install-fee terms Unity first announced earlier this month were "unthinkably hostile" to users and that even the "new concessions" in an updated pricing model offered late last week "disproportionately affect the success of indie studios in our community." But it's the fact that such "resounding, unequivocal condemnation from the games industry" was necessary to get those changes in the first place that has really shaken the community to its core. "We've seen how easily and flippantly an executive-led business decision can risk bankrupting the studios we've worked so hard to build, threaten our livelihoods as professionals, and challenge the longevity of our industry," BUG wrote. "The Unity of today isn't the same company that it was when the group was founded, and the trust we used to have in the company has been completely eroded."
Since its founding in 2010, the Boston Unity Group (BUG) has attracted thousands of members to regular gatherings, talks, and networking events, including many technical lectures archived on YouTube. But the group says it will be hosting its last meeting Wednesday evening via Zoom because the Unity of today is very different from the Dave Helgason-led company that BUG says "enthusiastically sanctioned and supported" the group at its founding.
"Over the past few years, Unity has unfortunately shifted its focus away from the games industry and away from supporting developer communities," the group leadership wrote in a departure note. "Following the IPO, the company has seemingly put profit over all else, with several acquisitions and layoffs of core personnel. Many key systems that developers need are still left in a confusing and often incomplete state, with the messaging that advertising and revenue matter more to Unity than the functionality game developers care about."
BUG says the install-fee terms Unity first announced earlier this month were "unthinkably hostile" to users and that even the "new concessions" in an updated pricing model offered late last week "disproportionately affect the success of indie studios in our community." But it's the fact that such "resounding, unequivocal condemnation from the games industry" was necessary to get those changes in the first place that has really shaken the community to its core. "We've seen how easily and flippantly an executive-led business decision can risk bankrupting the studios we've worked so hard to build, threaten our livelihoods as professionals, and challenge the longevity of our industry," BUG wrote. "The Unity of today isn't the same company that it was when the group was founded, and the trust we used to have in the company has been completely eroded."
IPO - profits above all else (Score:5, Insightful)
Following the IPO, the company has seemingly put profit over all else
Well duh... Do you know what an IPO is? It's offering many outside investors to put money into something that promises to make more than they put in.
Of course a company going public puts profit above all else. The more investors, the harder it is for a company to make far-sighted decision.
Just like in a condo with lots of owners: nobody wants to pay to maintain the commons, whereas individual homeonwers will invest in making their houses nicer or more energy-efficient more easily.
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The problem is really the incentive structures of managers in such, as the incentives should favor the long term benefit of the company..
But instead they tend to be based on stock value quarter to quarter.
uh... (Score:1)
They are most certainly not putting profits above all else. They put empire building above all else, they have SIX THOUSAND FUCKING EMPLOYEES. How many does Id Software have? 100-200? Can you think of any other game engine that takes SIX THOUSAND employees to build, market and sell?
Aside from your comment being based on nothing except opinions pulled out of your ass it makes zero sense that a company would focus on profits after the IPO but not before. Before the IPO you've got a handful of nervous investor
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They are most certainly not putting profits above all else. They put empire building above all else, they have SIX THOUSAND FUCKING EMPLOYEES. How many does Id Software have? 100-200? Can you think of any other game engine that takes SIX THOUSAND employees to build, market and sell?
Ignoring the ad-hominem attack part of this comment, it is actually interesting to question the staffing levels here, and to ask a devil's advocate question that every software project has to deal with: "can I get this project done with the staff I have on hand?" Often in my experience (even as a hiring manager) larger corporations have way more cash to spend hiring to "solve" the crisis of project pacing, with little or zero patience for the actual required work. It's entirely possible that Unity is both f
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As someone who tries to do good on a scaled agile team, I can totally agree with all of this.
Although I think the problem lies in the hearts of men rather than in their management ethos.
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They just have something of a reputation, sometimes deserved sometimes not, for succumbing to the pressure to keep fees low by taking an...optimistic...view of things like expensive structural maintenance and trying to kick the can down the road rather than do the unpopular thing and assess the fees required.
A quick look through
Working model (Score:2)
I'm not surprised that people act the same way in the US and Australia. People are people after all.
In my country, housing associations are very common, but they have a professional, non-profit organization backing them (nationally/regionally). It's a system that was established almost a century ago. It's usually run by the owners themselves (democratically elected board) or the partly by the association. The board gets help from the association to collect fees, financial management, legal assistance, etc.
W
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If you want a horror show, look up how the americans do "neighborhood associations". There can be stupid shit that goes down with Strata title here in australia (the body coprorate you refer to), but holy shit its like weird little kingdoms over there, and we're not talking blocks of apartments, but just a neighborhood of freestanding house where some whacky neighborhood association have powers bordering on lawmaking, minus the usefully competent bureacracy and if you dont like what they are doing *YOU* hav
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My bad, "Homeowner associations" is apparently what they are called. Hey, in my defence, I'm not American. I've just heard stories from american friends.
Re:IPO - profits above all else (Score:4, Interesting)
Homeowner Associations (HOAs) are usually controlled by Covenants, Codes and Restrictions (CC&Rs) and to a lesser extent the HOA's bylaws. The problem is sometimes the CC&Rs, just like any other contract, can be well written or a complete piece of garbage. Some are too lax and don't give the HOA's Board any enforcement authority, others are so restrictive it makes living in that neighborhood a nightmare. Other problems can occur if the Board has too much power or not enough.
In some HOAs, Board members are selected for an indefinite term and they only leave the board when they decide to. This can lead to a dynasty-style governing body where new board members are "invited" to join and the power base stays in power forever. The HOA where I live has board members elected for a two-year term and then they are ineligible to seek election again for 12 months. This prevents some of the most obvious dynasty building and usually allows many different people to join the board and learn how the HOA works. This is just one example of a helpful entry in our CC&Rs.
Before you purchase a home covered by an HOA, read the CC&Rs very carefully. You will be governed by all the articles in the CC&R whether you understand them or not. It helps to have someone review the CC&Rs with you and perhaps meet with a few of the existing homeowners to get an idea of what the HOA is like. We have a pretty good one but I too have heard horror stories. https://cbcnationalbankmortgag... [cbcnationa...rtgage.com]
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Marc's (from Unity) Weasel Words (Score:5, Insightful)
I think we've all seen enough Corporate Greed to recognize the bullshit playbook these goons universally follow. Take your snake oil somewhere else, we ain't buying it here.
Re:Marc's (from Unity) Weasel Words (Score:5, Informative)
It certainly wouldnt be Unitys first time. They had a similar screwup, 2018 or 2019ish, where they tried to retroactively modify the TOS to ban 3rd party cloud gaming providers so you could only use Unities service. Naturally people flipped the fck out until they kinda sorta backed down, then promised to never retroactively change TOS again by putting wording in the TOS saying you can always use the version you originally agreed to instead of newer one and even putting the agreement into Github so you can see changes, and promised to never do it again
Aaaand then a few months before this recent clusterfuck they quietly deleted the repo and deleted the clause about not being able to retroactively mod the agreement.
Even if Unity winds this runtime fee nonsense back completely (and they've already wound back the worst of it), nobody will trust them again. They quite intentionally went back on their earlier promise and people should not reward liars with money.,
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Unity is dead (Score:5, Insightful)
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Indeed. These people have gotten corrupt. There is really no way back from that, although they can temporary try to lie about it.
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Makes you kind of wonder if every company, when large enough, devolves into a self-destructive sociopathy machine
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Yes. It's why the Supreme Court allowing the existence of a corporation was one of the biggest mistakes ever made by this country as a whole. Then the world followed us along in our fuck-up! A personal can only be reasonably expected to be lawful due to fear of prosecution. Corporate executives are all but immune to prosecution unless they steal from the company. So, what's their incentive to follow the law? (Hint: There isn't one.)
Also can be said of Activision taking over..... (Score:2)
Not many AAA game engines on the market... (Score:2)
I hope Unity doesn't completely implode. That would further cement Epic's Unreal monopoly on the game engine market, which can not be in anyone's interest. :-/
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