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They're also introducing new DRM requirements for the editor (https://unity.com/pricing-updates):

> Starting in November, Unity Personal users will get a new sign-in and online user experience. Users will need to be signed into the Hub with their Unity ID and connect to the internet to use Unity. If the internet connection is lost, users can continue using Unity for up to 3 days while offline. More details to come, when this change takes effect.

Notably, Adobe Creative Cloud requires you to check in every 30 days to validate licenses. I feel like it takes some work to come up with a DRM scheme for a development tool that is more onerous than Adobe's restrictions, but what do I know?

I certainly have never left a demo laptop unplugged for a week and then set up a demo quickly without Internet access and needed to make a quick change in my engine. That never happens to indie developers, so locking down the editor until they reestablish an Internet connection totally won't be a problem for them. /s




I've resisted moving to Godot because I already know Unity so well, but I guess they've finally forced me to switch.


Godot just announced a new developer funding platform today for donations, which apparently takes a smaller cut per-donation than Patreon does.

It's optional (Godot is free), but if any developers who are considering switching from Unity want to see Godot development accelerated, consider kicking the project a few dollars a month: https://godotengine.org/article/godot-developer-fund/


I will move as soon as possible. Unfortunately I've got a two-year old project I'm about to launch. Can't rewrite it now. This is really not great


Don't drop all the eggs you already have. But if you can look into a new basket after launch, then Unity sure is giving you a good reason to shop around.


Welcome to the party!


I think GoDot will become very popular as an alternative and started a company around it. Ramatak released the first pre-release of their mobile studio for GoDot two weeks ago https://twitter.com/RamatakInc/status/1696914278861656397


"GoDot"? Isn't it named after Beckett's play, Waiting for Godot?


Oh, certainly. (The uppercase D is a typo, only the G is uppercase.)

From Wikipedia:

> “…it represents the never-ending wish of adding new features in the engine, which would get it closer to an exhaustive product, but never will.”


Looking at Godot, doesn't seem to be as cutting-edge/fully features as Unity I guess?

I think Unity is doing this to toe-to-toe with unreal, both "big boy" engines.


But wait, there's more!!!

https://twitter.com/JohnDraisey/status/1701620078419251255

> They eliminated Unity Plus subscriptions as of today, Plus members are being switched to Pro automatically. Be careful not to have auto-renew on your account if you can't afford the price. And this is with just 2 people on my team with project access.

I mean... Jesus.


According to the article, it won't be automatic, and won't be a higher price at least for the first year.

> Finally, Unity Plus is being retired for new subscribers effective today, September 12, 2023, to simplify the number of plans we offer. Existing subscribers do not need to take immediate action and will receive an email mid-October with an offer to upgrade to Unity Pro, for one year, at the current Unity Plus price.


That seems unlikely. I mean why would they list Unity Plus per install pricing in their table if they were doing that?


The messaging from Unity around this has been completely confusing. They use different terms and don’t define them in various places throughout the announcement and FAQ.

It is a disaster trying to consume this announcement and make future plans based upon it



This link seems broken. Did the author give any more details?


> I certainly have never left a demo laptop unplugged for a week

Right. I had a demo laptop turned off for most of a year, and when I turned it back on, it took half an hour while Windows updated. All laptops are now on Linux.


As if Linux distributions automatic updates don't act exactly the same.

Every single day there is something to update.


Which distributions enable automatic updates by default? And which ones force you to keep them on?

I've yet to experience either of those behaviors in my daily usage of Arch, Debian and Unraid, or in my sporadic use of a few other distributions.


Red-Hat, SuSE, Ubuntu for example, the typical enterprise ones.

And if getting philosophical if they are Linux distributions or not, ChromeOS and Android (PlayStore).


I’ve never seen a Linux (or even Android) distro that forces the user to update. Pester? Yes. But never “The system is rebooting in 60s to apply updates. [Reboot Now] [Wait 0s]”

Can some distros be configured that way? Almost definitely. But OP is clearly a decision maker t their company and would not choose that.


> I've never seen Android force the user to update

My current Samsung phone does this. I've never experienced this on any other Android device.


My S23U doesn't force update that I've seen.

Brings liability into question I guess; is Samsung liable for anything if a user chooses not to update?


Likewise Windows can be configured that way via AD.


Great, do I have to learn about azure to disable the start menu ads as well?


What? Enterprise distros coming default with auto update?


> Notably, Adobe Creative Cloud requires you to check in every 30 days to validate licenses. I feel like it takes some work to come up with a DRM scheme for a development tool that is more onerous than Adobe's restrictions, but what do I know?

JetBrains license server is 48 or 72 hours and won’t even let you open the app in any way if you have no connection.


That's if you're using a license server (eg. in a corporate environment). It'll allow you to work offline if you generate an offline activation key, see https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/working-offline.html#lic...


What's the purpose of this?


I am honestly not sure. Maybe to get people to upgrade to the subscription plans instead of sticking with the free versions by making the free version less reliable? Maybe to make sure telemetry in the free version of the editor works better?

I am also curious to hear from Unity what their reasoning is for putting excessive DRM on a "free" engine.




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