IIRC most of their revenue comes from Unity Ads, so they'd be dead if it wasn't for this weird pivot. From the business POV, not being "just a game engine" probably saved them.
The "picks and shovels" business model where you build tools for customers who use them in their own enterprises can be very successful. But it does require those customers to be successful in their enterprises. (Or you can rely on customers to be willing to pay out of pocket at a loss because it's a hobby, as with music instruments.)
Without some kind of other monetization, Unity is essentially selling picks and shovels to miners on a mountain with almost no gold in it.
To be clear, I don't think this justifies what Unity is doing. But they are clearly trying to be a $$$$ business in a $ market, and are willing to sell their souls to get the extra $$$.
[0] https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2022-05-05-video-game...
It's not _terrible_ but it's not great.
There are plenty of street performers that can hardly play the rent.
Unity is primarily used by smaller game developers and there is much less money available there.
They got greedy. The grow into a unicorn or die trying mentally is cancer to good technology.
I agree, but if they were a "game engine and everything around games" instead of spreading focus and recourses all over what they have been trying to do, my guess is they would be in a very good position now.
This was and is a really interesting business for them and I still think it is a great way for them to grow.
Unity is so entrenched in the game business that if they were seriously worried about profitability they could just raise their prices and curtail investment and they would have a solid business. Like many unicorns they have been favoring growth. But at their core they have a solid product that people who make a lot of money depend on. Yes, 99% of game developer make zero or less, but its a huge industry and some very profitable developers / publishers use Unity extensively.