Developers of indie puzzle game Orgynizer have claimed that Unity said organisations like Planned Parenthood are "not v…

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/5555641

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Developers of indie puzzle game Orgynizer have claimed that Unity said organisations like Planned Parenthood are “not valid charities” and are instead “political groups.”

In a blog post, the EU-based developer LizardFactory said the plans to charge developers up to $0.20 per install if they reach certain thresholds would cost them “around 30% of the funds we have gathered and already sent to charity.”

As Unity clarified the runtime fee will not apply to charity games, LizardFactory reached out to the company to clarify their game would be exempt from the plan.

However, Unity reportedly said their partners were not “valid charities” and were viewed as “political groups.”

Profits made from the game go directly to non-profit organisation Planned Parenthood and C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Michigan.

“We did this to raise money for a good cause, not to line the coffers of greedy scumbags,” the developers wrote in a blog post. “We have been solid Unity fanboys for over ten years, but the trust is scattered all over the floor.”

The developers are considering a move to open-source game engine Godot, “but we will have to recode our entire game because we refuse to give you a dime,” they wrote. “This is a mafia-style shakedown, nothing more, nothing less.”

Today, Unity responded to the ongoing backlash and apologised, acknowledging the “confusion and angst” surrounding the runtime fee policy.

The company has promised that changes to the policy will be shared in “a couple of days.”

  • Jaysyn
    2•9 months ago

    Devs may as well bite the bullet & switch engines mid development now, because I’m not buying any new games made in Unity.

  • @northendtrooper@lemmy.ca
    1•9 months ago

    This is their downfall hiring that CEO and the leadership should be ashamed. I feel sorry for the employees who had no say in this and are being affected by their myopic choices.

  • @Vlhacs@reddthat.com
    1•9 months ago

    Calling PP a political org is too obtuse a message to view this response as a simple mistake or miscommunication. Unity is apparently run by conservative hacks and I hope they collapse.

    • @blindbunny@lemmy.mlEnglish
      -1•9 months ago

      For real dude it’s really hard to feel bad for 2d game devs when an open source solution has been around for years.

      It’s like the whole xitter situation. Why would you want to stay on a platform that so obviously doesn’t want you there? bUt MaStOdOn Is HaRd 🙄 grow up, move on, stop investing in capitalists ideas that only benefit you when it benefits them.

  • @lobut@lemmy.ca
    1•9 months ago

    Right wing groups in the US made Planned Parenthood a political issue. It doesn’t make it a political organization.

    I feel sorry for Unity because I want them to be profitable and all that. However, they have a greedy prick for a CEO and one of the dumbest change rollouts I’ve seen (Twitter has been crazy bad lately too) at this scale. It wipes away any empathy for them and makes you yearn for their collapse.

  • moosetwinEnglish
    1•9 months ago

    planned parenthood is political yadda yadda yadda, but a children’s hospital?

    • @Thann@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1•9 months ago

      Planned parenthood shouldn’t be political. In a few years drinking water well be seen as a policial statement against brawndo

  • @PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
    0•9 months ago

    I mean Planned Parenthood is explicitly NOT a charity. It’s an ineffective Political Action Committee that spent decades bilking donations and wasn’t even able to codify roe v wade. They don’t deserve shit. Hospitals in the US are also explicitly not Charities. They may be non-profits, maybe, but they don’t run on donations, they expect payments from patients for services rendered. There is no world where those examples of the failures of a Capitalist society should be considered a charity.

    • ramOPEnglish
      0•9 months ago

      Except they’re literally a charity.

  • Ethalia
    0•9 months ago

    Aight, hope they’re ready to lay in their grave now. It’s over.