“We did the itch.io bundle for ukraine. That was approximately a million games given out per developer. If all those were installed, developers would owe $200,000 just for having given their game to charity.”
Unity wants 20 cents per install on top of the subscription it already charges. A 99 cent game on the personal plan nets 46 cents after Steam takes 30 percent. There is no cooldown on future fee changes, and studios years into development cannot switch engines before January. Unity picked the customers who are locked in and sent them the bill.