Unity Updates Its Terms of Service, Reinstates Improbable’s Licenses

By Stefanie Fogel

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Unity Technologies updated its Terms of Service (ToS) Wednesday morning, nearly a week after its public spat with SpatialOS developer Improbable. The developer is no longer in breach of the ToS and its licenses are reinstated, it said in a blog post .

Last week, Unity reportedly changed its Terms of Service to specifically disallow cloud platform services like from functioning with its game engine, a move that potentially jeopardized numerous massively multiplayer online games. Unity then revoked ’s licenses, saying the developer was in breach of the ToS.

Later that same day, Improbable formed a partnership with Epic Games , creator of the Unreal game engine. The two announced a joint fund of $25 million USD to assist developers affected by Unity’s ToS changes.

Unity claimed Improbable misrepresented its affiliation with the company and violated its ToS even before the changes occurred. But, it said developers can continue using SpatialOS to create and ship games even though it’s not a supported third-party service.

“Our ToS update on Dec. 5 was an attempt to define what our terms mean for the cloud and an opportunity to make our business model clearer,” Unity said. “After listening to developers, we realized how this language came across, and how it would impact your ability to choose.”

“When you make a game with Unity, you own the content and you should have the right to put it wherever you want. Our TOS didn’t reflect this principle – something that is not in line with who we are.”

While Unity said it’s currently working to create and integrate its own services, it won’t stop developers from using competitive third-party ones as well. It also plans to host ToS changes on Github going forward to give developers full transparency about what changes are happening and when.

Unity also plans to hold a Reddit AMA at 10 a.m. PST Wednesday to discuss the ToS changes in more detail.

Variety reached out to Improbable for comment on this latest development. While it said it couldn’t provide a full statement yet, it’s “happy that Unity has revised their Terms of Services, our licences are usable once again, and we are able to get back to fully supporting SpatialOS developers.”