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Comment by pnw | Hacker News Reader

Unity has had different licenses for non-gaming for at least a decade. E.g. gambling has always required a special license. See this Reddit thread from 2015.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Unity3D/comments/35xt2r/unity3d_gam...

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Based on job adverts, gambling is huge for Unity, even casino cabinets. It surprises me, you wouldn't think there'd be room for so many players in that market.

Unity is the de facto engine for a number of the interactive gambling machines you find in U.S. casinos.

From my experience, the gambling companies aren't particularly good at engineering, so using an off the shelf engine is a given. And you can be 100% sure they aren't going to use anything with a revenue share model.

I would guess it's because of regulatory compliance. You really don't want to release slots with a major payout but, and if you do, you want to be able to throw the blame at Unity.

Uhm, no? Unity is just the UI. The RNG algorithm runs on a centralised server.

The real problem is that the gambling business model is inherently incompatible with revenue sharing, because unlike a video game, you're paying money back to your customers every time they get a small win.

Let's say a gambler is wasting away $500 and getting back 95% every day and he plays until he runs out of money. Then unity would be getting $400 and the casino would be getting $100.

Unity’s always had special terms for gambling stuff. It’s not about squeezing more money out, it’s just that slot cabinets and VLTs have to be locked down and audited. Platforms like 2WinPower, SoftSwiss, and Slotegrator usually treat Unity as just the visual layer - all the math and payout logic sits outside in certified modules. That’s why you don’t see revenue-share deals with engine vendors, just flat licenses to keep regulators off your back

That's why Cocos engine is still popular (in gambling). Godot is also getting popular in this field.

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