Also Valve, Epic, Apple, and any other platform that distributes Unity games.

If you thought Unity lost their damn minds earlier this week, hold onto your butts because it got worse. Unity now says that platform holders such as Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo will be the ones who have to pick up the tab and pay that new runtime fee on behalf of developers.

This information comes from an updated FAQ that Unity shared on their website. The FAQ says that the Unity runtime fee...

Google offers response to a feature some users are being forced to test.

Some YouTube users have started to notice that YouTube is popping up a message stating that ad blockers are not allowed on YouTube. One of the first people to notice this ad block block was Reddit user Sazk100.

A popup message seen by Sazk100 and others says that "ad blockers are not allowed on YouTube." The message goes on to say that "ads allow YouTube to stay free for billions of...

Google says that the process should be automatic.

The process of issuing refunds to Stadia customers for purchases made on hardware, games, peripherals, and subscriptions has begun at Google. This comes a little over a month since Google announced that they were shutting down their online game streaming service. Google still plans on shutting the service down completely on January 18, 2023.

When they made the announcement of Stadia's closure, Google also revealed that...

Fight fight fight.

Google is now fighting back against Epic Games as part of the ongoing antitrust litigation between the two companies. A new countersuit was filed by Google against Epic Games and focuses on something called Project Liberty. Project Liberty is the name given to the 2020 plan from Epic that had them adding an alternate payment method to the Android and iOS versions of Fortnite.

This meant that users could bypass paying Apple or Google for purchases made...

There is no Justice.

VP and head of product for Google Stadia, John Justice, has parted ways from Google. This was confirmed in a statement issued to 9to5 from Google. The company says that they "can confirm John is no longer with Google and (they) wish him well on his next step."

Justice was responsible for overseeing the consumer experience for Stadia and often talked to the press about what was coming next to Google's game streaming service.

Speaking...

Jade Raymond is leaving the company.

Google just announced that they will be closing its internal Stadia game development studios. They will shift their focus now towards further development of Stadia as a streaming platform and the technologies used. Co-creator of Assassin's Creed, Jade Raymond, will be parting ways from Google after joining in 2019 to lead their development efforts at Stadia Games and Entertainment (SG&E).

This news comes via Phil Harrison, the vice-president...

Will no longer be locked to Pixel phones.

Since Stadia's launch, the only customers that could stream their games directly to their phones were those that owned Pixel devices. Beginning on February 20, Google will finally expand the mobile support for Stadia to include 19 additional phones that don't fall under the Stadia umbrella. The expanded roster of Android phones will include devices made by Samsung, Razer, and ASUS.

For those who don't know, Pixel phones are the...

Another game development studio was acquired by a larger company.

Stop me if you've heard this one before: A small, independent studio has been picked up by a much larger company today. This small studio was started by just two men. Together, they have multiple years of experience in the field, having helped to deliver a series of high-profile AAA game releases during their time at other studios.

In looking to branch out, these two individuals built a new studio from the...

You might want to sit down for this one.

Google has revealed the official pricing for the first batch of games that they are making available for the console's November 19th launch. What's interesting about this reveal is that it doesn't actually include prices for every launch game. Keep in mind that Google just recently added 10 additional titles, bringing their total to 22. The prices revealed in the list below seem to be only for those 12 initial games.

From the looks...