PM: Hey Steve! Yes, you from development! How can the, uh, that runtime of yours, tell if it’s a new install or a reinstall? S: As of right now it can’t, we just have aggregate data. We’d need to update it to support that. We have an item on the backlog already if you – PM: No need! I have all the information I need!
They actually explicitly stated as such:
Doesn’t steam let you download games you purchased that have since been removed? Will they try to bill developers still in this case?
Yeah. You theoretically can financially DDOS a developer.
Curious if they would charge once install was completed or once install commences.
If I try to install a game and for whatever reason it fails, and I have to try again, would they charge for two installs?
Probally an api call that goes out to Unity once you start a game and the engine comes online.
Im sure they would love to charge devs the instant we click a download link though.
An API call that could be faked. Easily.
Imagine a bot network that screws over a developer because of fake installer API calls.
Imagine that bot only targets games developed in house and fucks the assholes back.
Who knew software development involved so much anal sex?
One hour before that Q&A went live:
Bye, Unity! It’s nice to know you’ve gone evil, so that even if you backpedal on this, we’ll know never to trust you again…
On the upside, you think this will end the epidemic of worthless asset flips?