Unity Now Requires Pro License to Export Games to Console

Unfortunate news for small studios and indie devs using Unity. The game engine will soon require a Pro license for exporting their games for consoles.

In a recent report on Gamasutra (confirmed by a Unity spokesperson), its revealed that Unity has quietly updated their policy system. Before, a Pro license was only required for a game that makes over $200,000 over the last year. It costs $1,800 a year per user. Now, however, they will need to pay for the Pro license if they wish to export their projects for Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, or Google Stadia.

There is a work-around. Developers can get access to these options if provided with a Preferred Platform License Key. This is a special key granted to developers by the console makers or by Unity themselves. And while Sony and Nintendo will grant these keys to registered publishers, Xbox does not. This means that if a developer wanted to export for Xbox consoles, theyll need to pay for the Unity Pro license.

The changes were implemented internally on June 30, and will only apply to projects started after that date.

This is a somewhat common position to take for game engines. Console game production requires some complicated work, after all. And other engines do the same thing (looking at you, Game Maker Studio). But this still is a somewhat surprising take from Unity. The engine is often seen as a more indie/small studio friendly option to game development, offering more ease-of-use than engines like Unreal (which doesnt charge for console exporting). And as such, its established itself as a more popular option for casual and indie developers. At the same time, these small games are more likely to be unable to pay the $1,800 a year to publish for consoles like Xbox.

While Unity may have a good reason for this change, its definitely not a popular choice. As a hobby developer myself, this is particularly unfortunate to hear.