Terraria developer donates $100,000 to Godot growth

Indie video games developer and writer Re-Logic, greatest identified for the Terraria franchise, has donated $100,000 to open-source recreation engine Godot.

The donation is roughly twice the quantity that Godot at present receives every month by way of its new Godot Development Fund. Re-Logic will proceed to donate $1,000/month going ahead.

The donation was made in response to rival engine developer Unity’s controversial announcement final week that it’s planning to introduce installation-based charges for Unity video games.

An sudden increase for the newly launched Godot Growth Fund
Launched last week, the Godot Growth Fund is Godot’s equal of the extremely profitable Blender Growth Fund, which funds development of the open-source 3D app.

On the time of writing, Godot’s personal fund attracts simply over €47,000/month (round $50,000/month), with backers together with indie recreation developer Spiffcode, service builders Heroic Labs and Ramatak and enterprise capital agency OSSC.

Terraria developer Re-Logic pledges $100,000, plus $1,000/month going forwards
This month’s funding was tripled in a stroke by Re-Logic’s announcement that it was donating $100,000 to Godot, plus an extra $1,000/month going forwards.

The agency can also be donating the identical amount of cash to FNA, an open-source reimplementation of XNA, Microsoft’s now-discontinued recreation growth framework.

Donation made in response to Unity’s unpopular proposed Unity Runtime Payment
The donations had been made in response to Unity’s announcement final week that it plans to introduce a Unity Runtime Fee for video games developed utilizing the engine from 1 January 2024.

The payment would apply to free Unity Private accounts in addition to paid Unity Professional and Unity Enterprise accounts, and could be charged on a per-install foundation above a income threshold.

The announcement was massively unpopular with builders: according to GamesIndustry.biz, by yesterday, over 500 had signed a collective letter pledging to show off Unity Adverts monetization till the “adjustments are reconsidered”.

As of this morning, the link to the collective letter has been redirected to the Godot web site.

‘Now could be the time to get behind open-source recreation engines’
In a powerfully worded tweet, Re-Logic mentioned that it “has been watching the current occasions surrounding Unity with each curiosity and unhappiness”, and that it “unequivocally condemn[s]” the proposed adjustments in charges and the “underhanded manner they had been rolled out”.

Though Unity issued a public assertion on the weekend apologizing for the “confusion and angst” the unique announcement has prompted, stating that it’s going to “share an replace in a few days”, Re-Logic commented that “even when Unity had been to recant their insurance policies and statements, the destruction of belief isn’t so simply repaired”.

Re-Logic says that it doesn’t personally use Unity “exterior of some components on our console/cell platforms” however feels that “now’s the time to get behind … up-and-coming open supply recreation engines”.

Read Re-Logic’s full statement that it is donating $100,000 to fund development of Godot