UPDATED: Unity has responded to Improbable's post / news listed below:
Improbable published a blog post regarding their relationship with Unity earlier today. Improbable’s blog is incorrect.
We terminated our relationship with Improbable due to a failed negotiation with them after they violated our Terms of Service.
We’ve made it clear that anyone using SpatialOS will not be affected.
Projects that are currently in production or live using SpatialOS are not affected by any actions we have taken with Improbable.
If a game developer runs a Unity-based game server on their own servers or generic cloud instances (like GCP, AWS or Azure), they are covered by our EULA.
We have never communicated to any game developer that they should stop operating a game that runs using Improbable as a service.
The talks between Unity and Improbable, creators of SpatialOS, have broken down. Unity has pulled Improbable's license and blocked them from using the engine as a breach of the new terms of service. "This will affect our ability to support games". The issue at hand is that developers currently developing games of with games in production using Unity will no longer be able to use SpatialOS. This includes companies such as Bossa and NetEase.
Some MMOs using SpatialOS include:
- Mavericks
- Scavengers
- Worlds Adrift
- Lazarus
- MetaWorld
- Forsaken Legends
Overnight, this is an action by Unity that has immediately done harm to projects across the industry, including those of extremely vulnerable or small scale developers and damaged major projects in development over many years. Games that have been funded based on the promise of SpatialOS to deliver next-generation multiplayer are now endangered due to their choice of game engine. Live games are now in legal limbo.
All customers who entered into a relationship with us and Unity previously did so on the good faith understanding that the terms they signed up to, sometimes years ago, would allow them to be successful and not carry additional charges.
We have always had huge respect for and been incredibly inspired by Unity and its mission. Unity was part of why we started Improbable in a barn in north London just a few years ago. We have always known them to put developers, innovation and integrity first and have been in loose partnership talks for some time with a view to doing more together.
For now, we believe this unfortunate and counterproductive action to be an error in judgement or coordination failure within Unity. We are urgently working to clarify this situation and believe that a swift resolution may be possible.
Read the full letter over on Improbable's site and be sure to visit Slapshot1188's forum thread.
