Kingdoms of Elyria Considers Leaving Unity Engines

Kingdoms of Elyria is not happy at all with the new fee structure proposed by Unity. The study hosts its games on the Unity engine and plans on offering free-to-play options. However, a new pricing scheme that is being recommended by Unity, has caused it to review its options.

It has been reported recently that Chronicles of Elyria/Kingdoms of Elyria is almost complete. Development has been halted due to Unity’s controversial pricing announcement. Even as Soulbound is close to securing funding via a licensing agreement.

Earlier this year, Unity decided to implement an install fee that would be applied based on the company’s service plan tiers as well as how many copies are sold. The fee would apply to every installation of a Unity-powered game, regardless of how many copies are sold.

Unity has since begun walking back some of the changes, following rampant negative feedback after the original announcement. This would have a disproportionate impact on free-to-play games.

Jeromy “Caspian” Walsh responded in the Discord, pointing out that Unity once charged a monthly subscription fee per “seat.” Unity also promised not to charge royalties or per-sale fees for using the engine, with no limit on titles.

The model was developer-friendly, allowing teams to work on multiple games simultaneously without paying additional fees, especially since Unity’s engine could be canceled at any time without additional charges.

“Like many other indie studios, I’ve begun re-evaluating the available game engines to see whether or not there’s a better alternative that is powerful, user-friendly, reliable, and affordable. And just as importantly, whether the company behind it (if any) is trustworthy.,” Walsh said.

“Although there is no clear direction for the KoE game client yet, I will let you know when there is one,” Walsh says.

As the studio figures out what to do next, players are busy watching the show.