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Why Switch from Unity to Godot?

After 10 years of using Unity, I switched to Godot for several reasons, based on my personal experience:

Godot is faster to work in. For example, I've recreated Melody Duel in Godot. In the time it takes me to open Melody Duel in Unity, I can open the game in Godot, run it and play a round, export it to HTML5 and play it in a browser on localhost at the press of a button, and finally export builds for 7 different platforms, all before the Unity project opens. To further compare:

The Task	Unity	Godot
Open the Editor	1-3 minutes	5-15 seconds
Export to Windows/Linux/Mac	2 minutes	Instant
Export to Web	8 minutes	Instant
Export to Android	5min (15min first load)	15sec (1min first load)

Godot is more feature rich and better documented. I find that when I discover a new Node type, it exposes more options for me to tinker with, while also providing the tools for me to dive much deeper if I want to customize it. Features feel more fleshed out and cohesive with the overall design of Godot's Node-based system.
Godot has long-standing, built-in netcode. Unity just decided to come out with netcode in 2023, the year I left. Prior, everyone, including myself, had to go through Photon, a 3rd party subscription service that provided netcode to Unity games. With Godot, I was able to create my own server and client code.
Unity's, now rolled back, install-fee policy of 2023 was the last straw for me. To me, Unity showed there hand as being poorly mismanaged at the top level, allowing their executives to push a terribly thought-through policy that was bad for their business and their consumer-base (the developers). They could have simply done revenue-share like Unreal has been doing for years if the needed the extra money. But they decided to do something completely illogical and destructive. While the pricing issues of the install-fee policy would have never affected me personally anyway, as I don't make enough money to qualify to be charged, I feared that continuing to dig deeper roots in Unity would be all wasted in the future at the knee-jerk decision of upper-management making a stupid business decision. Switching to Godot gives me freedom and peace in knowing that my business as a game developer will always be safe from issues like this.

What was the Install Fee policy?

After making beyond the threshold of $200,000 USD in revenue, you are required to pay $0.20 USD every time a user installs any game you created with Unity. This $0.20 fee will be reduced to as little as $0.02 depending on other plans you're on (such as Unity Pro or Enterprise) and the volume of installs your games receive. Unity has telemetry on every game you create with it, so Unity will know how much it should be charging you every month.

What is wrong with the Install Fee policy?

The primary flaw:

The primary flaw is that the policy triggers a fixed fee to be paid based on an action (installs) that is not tied to the developer earning revenue. This results in numerous problems that no other game engine threatens to its developers. Here are the issues this flaw creates:

Variable Rev. Share between different games. Ex: Purchasing a $5.00 game and installing it charges $0.20, which is a 4% revenue share. If the game was $1.00 that would be a 20% revenue share.
Vairable Rev. Share month over month. Ex: A freemium moble game can be installed for free. If the amount of installs are high but the amount of cash-shop purchases are low, the fees will be unnecessarily higher that month.
Unpredictable Rev. Share. Ex: If a user reinstalls a game they already bought, that's another $0.20 that is charged to the developer. If the game was bought for $5.00, the revenue share for that purchase increases from 4% to 8%.
Malicious attack. Ex: anyone can setup a bot to rapidly install a developer's game forever, stacking excessive fees which have no tie to the revenue made on the sale.
New developers choosing to avoid Unity. Unity offers no extremely compelling reason to be selected over other top engines like Unity, Game Maker, Godot, Ren.py and RPG Maker. Thus, to threaten the chance of studio-ending amounts of fees will scare off any sensible would-be newcomer. This, overtime, will erode Unity's marketshare, which inturn, would reduce the quality of support, the community effect, the asset store's use, among other things. Unity would eventually die as a company if it did not pivot (which it did 2 weeks after announcing the policy).

How does it compare?

Unity (install-fees)	Variable effective percent revenue share, potentially exeeding 100% revenue share.
Unreal	5% revenue share. (Otherwise, the most expensive AAA option)
Unity (pre-install-fees)	$100+ USD per developer per year.
Game Maker	$100 USD. Perpetual license.
RPG Maker	$80 USD. Perpetual license.
Ren.py	Free Open Source Software (FOSS).
Godot	Free Open Source Software (FOSS).

The secondary flaw:

The policy would be retroactive. Meaning, if you published a Unity game years ago, it would still be subject to this new pricing policy. Note that prior to install-fees, developers read the original pricing policy, weighed their options and chose Unity with the understanding of how much the pricing policy will cost them. Since install-fees would be retroactive, their previous understanding becomes void. They are forceably opted into this new policy without any way to opt-out. They can try to take their games off the store, but that doesn't stop piracy, which will also count toward install fees. Their only option would be to port their entire game to a different engine to flee the fees that would otherwise destroy their financials.

But didn't Unity go back on the Install Fee Policy?

Yes. Within 2 weeks, they changed the entire policy, introduced Revenue Share, and increased the free teir from $200,000 to $1,000,000. A year later, they completely cancelled the Runtime Fee policies (install and revenue sharing) in favor of increasing subscription costs by about 85%. These changes are much more financially managable for developers.

However, the fact that they could always change the policy again in the future haunts all Unity developers. At any moment, you could be years into your career, and suddenly, legally, they can switch up the policies in a way that could destroy your entire operation. I do not wish to live in that fear. Thus, I switched to a FOSS engine; Godot.