this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2024

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Unity ring in the new year by firing 1,800 people in the name of "long-term and profitable growth" (www.rockpapershotgun.com)

submitted 1 year ago by inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world to c/pcgaming@lemmy.world

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[–] DarkMessiah@lemmy.world 43 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you wanted growth maybe you shouldn’t have killed your platform by drowning your customers with fucking fees to use it!

I dunno, maybe they’ve got a plan; I’m no business student.

[+] heavy@sh.itjust.works -14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I appreciate your passion. I also am upset about Unity's leaders decisions and hold them responsible for this slump. To really fix these problems though we need to acknowledge the reality of at least a couple things:

Unity employees need to get paid, simple as that.
Unity is one of the most accessible game engines available, if it wasn't, people wouldn't be upset with the situation.

The issue is in the lack of transparency, trust and communication on how leaders decided to implement fee changes, but by no reasonable measure did Unity "drown customers with fucking fees." Reactionary responses don't really address the real problems and gets used as ammunition (mostly by rich assholes) to disregard peoples complaints.

EDIT: I am intimately aware of what happened, you would just need to trust me on that. Remember the louder, angrier voice isn't always right.

Pour some out for all the fine folks who learned they're losing their jobs today.

[+] helenslunch@feddit.nl 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

[deleted]

[+] heavy@sh.itjust.works -9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I can't really respond to a non existent opinion. I'm interested in hearing your perspective on what you actually think about the fees.

I would argue you could download Unity right now and have all the tools to make a very good game and you wouldn't pay a dime.

The rub is, when you start making significant money, Unity should also make some money, I think there's a fair deal in there.

If you don't think Unity employees should be able to put food on the table too, then I can't say you're making a case in good faith.

Again the issue is, in that fair deal, out of touch rich people decided to make an absurd change without telling anyone, and that isn't something you should do to your customers or partners. Obviously they're dealing with the consequences of that.

That being said, this rhetoric that there shouldn't be fees should stop. Unity isn't an open source project that relies on donations, there's Godot for that. People are losing their jobs over these decisions and there are people in the community that seem to think Unity happens for free.

[+] helenslunch@feddit.nl 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] heavy@sh.itjust.works -5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not convinced it's a strawman, people are offended by the fee structure, and I don't think you need to look very far to see that. I don't agree with the fee structure or how they did it, but you can make the case that fees did need to increase.

Your responses are reading with some emotion, so I hope this isn't offending you. I think we probably agree in general that Unity's leadership did a shitty thing, but all I'm saying is it's more complicated than most people give it credit. Neither of us speak for groups of people, so let's do our best to not make assumptions of each other.

[–] maxprime@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are you implying that people got laid off because unity wasn’t charging customers? Was there any credible evidence imply that employees would be getting raises, and that the fees were not to appease shareholders?

[–] heavy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

No, sorry, I don't mean to imply that. Just like most situations in tech companies since the interest rate spikes has had a big impact, and negatively on employees. I mean to imply that the situation is more nuanced than most people have been saying.

Apparently putting anything other than " UNITY BAD >:( " sparks some fierce feedback.

[–] Zellith@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The rub is, when you start making significant money, Unity should also make some money, I think there’s a fair deal in there.

The fact of the matter is that people using unity signed up under the conditions laid out. Unity altered the deal. Devs just prayed they wouldn't alter it further.

[–] heavy@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago

Correct, the changes to the fee structure was completely foolish and eroded trust with their customers. In attempting to speak to a wide audience, I'm trying to provide as much context to my point. That being, Unity was, and is (after walking back the changes) a good deal for 90% of the user-base.

I agree though that because of their behavior, you shouldn't risk building a business on their word, as it stands. To be fair, the EA dude is out and they're working on finding someone else to lead, if there's anyone else to lead after all the layoffs 😕

[–] Ganbat@lemmyonline.com 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Tell me you weren't paying attention without telling me.

[–] DarkMessiah@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So… how much did they pay you? Do they have your family? Blink twice if you need somewhere safe.

[–] heavy@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Lol cmon, you know if they paid me they'd just lay me off by now 😁

[–] mastefetri@infosec.pub 21 points 1 year ago

They tried to appease the shareholders rapacious greed by changing their business model to include royalties and other random fees, but that failed so now they've laid off 25% of the workforce to free up a lot of cash short term. This is a desperation move and they're never going to be able to provide the endless growth the shareholders demand. But the shareholders will be appeased for the next few months. So I guess it's a win?

[–] HeyJoe@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

Hey, it could have been my company who laid off 200 people 2 weeks before Xmas. I actually respect that they let them enjoy the holidays and not add more stress and make it unenjoyable. Sucks all around but I would much rather the new year term over that...

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’m starting to think maybe this isn’t how we should be doing things as a society

[–] AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This is what happens when you demand infinite growth/metastasis within a finite system.

Late Stage Market Capitalism is eating itself now without new markets to grow/metastasize. You can see it in every economic sector, from this to TimeWarnerDiscoveryHBOParamountSoonEtc. The snake is eating its own tail having conquered the board.

Oh, and it's killing our sole, shared, COMMUNal habitat, when it isn't dooming many of us to die of exposure in some alley or tent city for the crime of not further enriching our owner class well enough.

[–] umbraroze@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"No no no! Of course we won't fire people just before Christmas. That'd be evil. We'll fire them after the holidays. Duh."

A totally normal CEO

[–] AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

-Sent from some tropical resort where I am "working" remotely, like I don't let my employees do from their own homes.

[–] AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yay, more profitable growth/metastasis, just what humanity needs!

cough, cough

[–] 800XL@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

We call unchecked growth Cancer.

[–] _sideffect@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Fucking hell...

[–] 800XL@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Who had on "long-term and profitable growth" on their Corporate America Bullshit Bingo card?

[–] Jaysyn@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

Dead Company Walking!

[–] ieightpi@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

This bubble is-a-burstin

[–] pennomi@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Depends on who they fired… they were doing a lot of weird stuff unrelated to game engine development.

[–] TheAgeOfSuperboredom@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'll bet the people who decided to do that weird stuff didn't get fired though. Though I guess in this case it is a new CEO?

[–] pennomi@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I mean the old CEO did effectively get fired for it. The new CEO is fixing the problem, presumably.

[–] Jaysyn@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago

The old CEO did exactly what the board asked him to & got his golden parachute as a reward for taking the flack.

[–] BeigeAgenda@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

I am sure they only fired the useless employees, they went looking for red staplers and people who forget the TPS cover sheet!

[–] heavy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

Unfortunately it takes more than just game engine engineers to run a company. IMO it might not have been the smartest idea to acquire all the companies they did, though, just to have them. I don't even think their acquisitions ever fully merged or did anything useful.