What "Unity installer"? Games nowadays are all distributed on steam / epic / app store / etc.
If you are talking about the editor, this makes no sense they would bundled it up with malware (their target is the games made with it).
I'm not thrill about the announcement at all but there is a lot of unfounded fear.
E.g. for Steam see the Install Script section here: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/sdk/goldmaster
Malware isn't really a uniform category of software. They can be harmful in a lot of different ways. Something like a kernel level anti-cheat is malware in almost every sense of the name except the developer's promise that it's not doing anything nasty. And there's a long list of DRM that affects the performance, security, or stability of the system while most users aren't aware this is happening or why. They install a game, everything else that comes with it is realistically hidden just like any malware.
So while you could group them in different categories, many forms of DRM are malware in form and function.
How would you call a "Malware" as describe above versus a "Malware" DRM / Anti-cheat. There is a clear separation between the two for those platforms.
But sticking with a philosophical defintion, malware is a very fuzzy category, and that line is so blurred as to essentially not be there in the case of anti-cheat programs and services, which effectively spy on the user (malware behavior) for financial gain (having a gaming platform that doesn't have a large number of cheaters) and often employ malware tactics like rootkits, VM detection, process inspection, etc.. Similairly Google Analytics definitely meets the criteria we generally use to define malware (spyware in that case) if you raise the bar a bit for things running in the browser.
No matter how we define those at the end of the day there is a difference between them, so maybe "malware" is the wrong word here as this seems to irk many, but seeing all the replies that group DRM / anti-cheat / analytics / ads (interstitial) and malicious software that get sneakily installed to add toolbar / popups to a computer all being grouped together as one and the same is just wrong because in the practical world those companies makes a clear distinction between them.
So my question is, if the correct word is not "malware" to uniquely specify that subset of software that is clearly banned from those store and won't at large also includes stuff that are OK like analytics. What is it?
Personally, in the real world, I would never specify something like analytics or ads (interstitial) as "malware" (even if philosophically they are) because to me, the way I've seen it used was to identify software that get sneakily installed and add malicious stuff to the user's computer (popup / toolbar / crypto mining).
DRM / Anti-cheat, even tho they are "bad" (I get that), are not going to suddenly start showing ads popup (and if they did and they totally can, the stores would banned those games and would classify it as malware not just DRM).
Making a word too broad means we loose the meaning. There has to be a specific word that describes the exact type of software that I am desperately trying to specify. And I know you know what I'm referring to, and I'm sure everyone understood what I meant, and I get that it isn't "malware" but what is it?
I do not agree and I really don't see you being able to support this. They are just different categories of malware. Malware is defined by its characteristics, not the "platform's" (developer's?) definition.
Even if we don't have an absolutely clear, rock solid and immutable definition of what malware is, it's generally accepted that if a piece of software is affecting the stability, security, or performance of a system, while the owner may not even be aware of the presence, function, or impact of that software, then it's malware. More generally performing actions to the detriment of the owner and without the owner's knowledge.
White-hat software that infected routers to fix backdoors and eliminate black-hat malware (so to improve the security, stability, or performance of the system) was in practice still considered malware.
So keep in mind that an attacker punching you in the face doesn't get to decide whether it's assault or actually just percussive transmission of information. It's the characteristics of the action which define it.
That is only your interpretation of the purchase. Unless you have insider information you don't know what their true intentions are.
They could have purchased a more reputable company with the same goal you mentioned.
Unity game dev will, willingly, include ads into their games, no need to sneakily force malware on users computer for that.
I get the fear, "unfounded" was perhaps the wrong word, most articles want to push the narrative this way, but despite their previous sketchy background, IronSource is one the leading mobile gaming ads company, they don't only make malware and clearly this merging is about "ads" and not installing malware.
The concern here is hyperbolic. This is about ads, not malware. There is no rational reason Unity would want to get close to malware.
https://www.polygon.com/2018/6/20/17485762/red-shell-spyware...