Unity developer group dissolves after company "completely eroded trust"

A team of game developers who made up "the first official Unity user group in the world" are breaking up after a 13-year run. ArsTechnica reports the Boston Unity Group (aka, BUG) recently held a Zoom meeting to confirm the end of the road (and the reason: Unity's new Runtime Fee policy.)

Founded in 2010 by Alex Schwartz and Elliott Mitchell, BUG regularly hosted events for Unity developers in the Boston, MA area. As its numbers have grown over the years, it's been "enthusiastically sanctioned and supported by Unity," but the group no longer feels comfortable being associated with the engine maker.

"Recently, Unity unveiled a set of unthinkably hostile terms of service and pricing changes for its users," wrote BUG. "Unity had no choice but to rescind some of the most egregious changes. Even with these new concessions, the revised pricing model disproportionately affects the success of indie studios in our community."

Unity's eroded trust

It added that its formerly ironclad trust in Unity as a company has been "completely eroded. The Unity of today isn't the same company that it was when the group was founded."

"We've seen how easily and flippantly an executive-led business decision can risk bankrupting studios we've worked so hard to build, [and] threaten our livelihoods as professionals. [...] As members of the broader Boston game developer community, we feel our efforts as organizers would be better spent creating opportunities for everyone, not just Unity users."

Come tomorrow, September 27, BUG will hold its final event via Zoom. In the wake of its closure, it's advised members to join the Boston's Game Dev meetup group "where they can continue to connect with local developers using Unity, Unreal, Godot and everything in between."