I know that there is absolutely no one, not a single human on this planet, knows with certainty the fallout from Unity's decision to change it's licensing agreements (pricing specifically).

But maybe those here a lot smarter than me (everyone) might have some thoughts on the issue (as evidenced by the numerous posts in the numerous threads on this topic) and so I just wanted to ask about a single game here at GoG, because it's a game I haven't yet played and I do want to play it at some point. Like... should I go ahead and install it now, even if I'm not yet ready to play?

I'm sure everyone has a particular game they too care about and wonder what this means, Daggerfall Unity Gog Cut is mine.

Thoughts?

I'm not certain. but because Daggerfall Unity was never sold, then doesn't it mean it doesn't meet the sale level required to invoke the Install Tax?

Install it and use something like zonealarm to block the telemetry. enjoy and sleep easy.

Claiming, downloading and installing the game is never a bad idea...

But regarding Unity policy and fee changes:
The maker of Unity applied the emergency brakes. They are "updating" their plans. We will see what that means. source: https://unity.com/pricing-updates

also: source: https://blog.unity.com/news/plan-pricing-and-packaging-updates

With respect to the free-of-charge Daggerfall Unity, I believe that Braggadar has the correct line of reasoning.

Also, after significant uproar from developers, Unity is seeking to backtrack on its previously-declared fee. Supposedly, they will announce 'alterations' (source), but, frankly, regardless of any 'adjustment', their image may remain sullied.

Edit: By the way, the GOG version of Daggerfall Unity is quite outdated (0.13.5B GZ 20220617) compared to the first release candidate (0.16), which was announced yesterday (2023-09-20). Version 1.0 may arrive not long afterwards.

They may be waiting for 1.0 to update. Maybe...

I have to agree with Braggadar here, since based on the Unity blog I saw here, the game needs to meet both the "revenue AND install thresholds" (quoting directly from the provided table) before the fee rates could be applied. This means Daggerfall shouldn't incur any install fee from Unity since the game doesn't meet the revenue threshold due to it being free (despite the fact that I'm pretty sure it has already met the install threshold by a huge margin). But then again, anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks a lot for all the replies. I don't even really know what games I own that are Unity, except I did know this one, as it IS one I do want to play at some point. I played Daggerfall before, but I am very interested in playing it again in this format, as it looked amazing in the video. But right now I'm on a Gothic run, having finished 1 and am now up to Level 13 in 2 (but still Chapter 1). But I really do hope I can get to experience Daggerfall Unity. Really appreciate all the help I get here, it's why I try to "give back" the only way I know how. Thanks again to all.

Below is a bassackwards code for Disciples: Sacred Lands Gold.. I've got lots of hours in this HOMM type strategy game, and I found it a lot of fun and very enjoyable, although I never finished it (yet).

7AE64-61FCD-368F5-7F87A

GAME CLAIMED

ACTUAL CODE SHOULD BE OBVIOUS SINCE I SAID IT WAS BASSACKWARDS BUT I'LL POST IT JUST THE SAME.

A78F7-5F863-DCF16-46EA7

Very generous, as well as thoughtful.

Were you able to resolve the CPU-usage spikes?

So far, so good. *crosses fingers/knocks on wood*.

In fact, I haven't seen that massive drop in framerates in over a week, not even once. I'm still not really sure of the culprit, since I wasn't able to "forcefully" remove the "Gaming Services" thing. But it seems to happen right after a Windows Update and then seems to get better a day or two later.

I really think a lot of this is my fault. I bought this laptop, which was a real powerhouse for a laptop at the time (2020) but then became bed bound and it layed in it's box for over two years. When I finally got it up and running, the first thing I noticed was all of the "bloatware" that comes with these name brand laptops (this one is an MSI) and I tried uninstalling everything I thought was unnecessary, and maybe I screwed something up. I still get an error message when I power on saying one of the things I uninstalled is "missing uninstall.exe" or something like that. Something called Dragon Center is the specific program, so most of my problems are probably, no not probably, almost certainly are my fault.

I think gog may be at an advantage here, considering that Unity made a clarification now that developers would only be beholden to the terms for the year that their used version of unity is. So 2023 is a bit more dangerous.

Consider giving this a try (I have no first-hand experience, but, it seems promising):
https://old.reddit.com/r/MSI_Gaming/comments/krdm6u/need_help_completely_uninstalling_dragon_center/gi9jpkc/

Do you have a source for that? Because last I checked there was no word on the matter yet, and the head of Unity was basically going, "Oh yeah, we're still working on it."

The game is FREE.

For GOG (as publisher/host of the game) to face any effect in regard to the "Unity Runtime Fee" (URF), the game must meet BOTH requirements:

- revenue threshold crossed (within the last 12 months - starting January 1st, 2024), AND
- install threshold crossed (lifetime - starting June 16th, 2022 - the day of its release).

[depending on the engine version used [Personal/Plus], [Pro], [Enterprise] (in GOG's case probably the latter), the thresholds that need to be crossed are set between $200.000 (USD) and $1.000.000 (USD), respectively between 200.000 installs and 1.000.000 installs]

BUT ONLY (quote): "IF your game meets BOTH thresholds, the tiered rates apply and will be charged once per new install."

And since the game is FREE - it CAN NEVER meet the "revenue threshold" requirement, thus it CAN also NEVER meet BOTH requirements that are needed for the "URF" to take effect.

Btw: regardless of everything written above - it's only 6 GB on the HDD, so it shouldn't be a problem to install it right away, even if you don't plan to play it immediately.

Game has been claimed.