Game engine company Unity is threatening to revoke software licenses from RocketWerkz Studios founded by DayZ developer Dean Hall, who told the media that the allegation was unfounded.
Hall posted on the Reddit game development community r/gamedev last Friday, saying that "Unity is sending emails to long-term developers to threaten to completely disable its access rights under the pretext of false license usage data."According to an email provided by Hall, Unity accused RocketWerkz of "mixing" licenses of different levels, requiring the studio to "correct immediately" by May 16, otherwise it will revoke the existing authorization.This means that the "Stationers" released in 2017 will not be able to continue to be updated, and the development of the new work "Torpedia" will also be hindered.
Hall specifically questioned Unity’s data collection method: “How do they determine how much professional licenses a company needs? It seems that it is crawling personal data on a large scale and reaching ridiculous conclusions – is this in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?”
Unity offers multi-level licensing programs ranging from free "personal version" to "industrial version" with an annual fee of $4,950.The key threshold is: projects with income or financing of more than $200,000 in the past 12 months must purchase a "Professional version" with an annual fee of $2,200 per seat.The company had caused an industry earthquake due to its attempt to force the extra charges in 2023, and eventually canceled its decision and replaced its CEO.
Hall's December 2024 payment voucher shows that the studio has paid $36,420 to purchase 18 Professional Edition licenses (valid until December 2025).But Unity claims to have detected 5 people who "should use the Pro version" including:
1 formal employee who has not participated in the Unity project
1 formal employee who has purchased the professional version
1 contractor who has been paid by the studio during the 2024 cooperation period
2 employees from other New Zealand companies (including Vita Studios employees who participated in the special effects production of "Lord of the Rings")
Hall showed the media the status of the Unity backend, proving that all the alleged accounts have been authorized for professional versions.“Unity appears to be monitoring the entire New Zealand gaming industry, and this kind of cross-border behavior will hit small teams that are unable to fight,” he warned. “When private equity funds take over this mess, developers may suddenly face sky-high renewals or complex verification processes.”
Unity has not responded at the moment. As the company's financial report continues to sluggish, the incident has once again raised developers' concerns about the risk of engine monopoly.
