This awful Unity business led to me learning of Soda Drinker Pro’s upcoming NES port

Soda Drinker Pro is an odd one. Created by Will Brierly a hog’s age ago, it eventually made its way to Steam and Xbox One. I was turned onto it back in the day by the relentless enthusiasm of Destructoid grizzled veteran Jonathan “Grizzled Veteran” Holmes. With Unity making an impressive attempt to implode a massive section of the indie development community, Will Brierly has decided it’s time to stick the needle in and get sucking as much cash out of enthusiastic soda drinkers as possible.

Via the Soda Drinker Pro website, Will Brierly has announced that beginning January 1, 2024, a diabolical new monetization scheme will be implemented.

Historically, Soda Drinker Pro functioned on a one-time purchase model. However, after an exhaustive analysis of our revenue streams and the game’s mechanics, which merely simulate the act of sipping a digital beverage, we have determined that a per-sip fee optimally aligns with our business objectives. Each sip activates a specific segment of our proprietary code, thereby justifying the incremental charge.

You can view the full details of just how out-of-pocket you will be here on the Soda Drinker Pro webzone.

Just kidding

The whole Unity price structure is a big upsetting situation. Considering all the indie devs I follow on Twitter, my entire feed has been taken up by the outcry against it. And for good reason. It’s the sort of greed I expected when John Riccitiello took the position of CEO in 2014. I’m mostly surprised it took them this long to switch into host-murdering parasite mode.

The upside to this is that, by wading into the conversation, Will Brierly has notified me that Soda Drinker Pro is coming to the NES. The trailer went live August 25, and I somehow missed it. The shame I feel right now should really spice up my self-flagellation routine later tonight.

More information is coming soon, but Brierly has stated that Snowrunner and Limited Run Games assisted with the production. I’m assuming that means it will be distributed by Limited Run Games, but we’ll have to wait and see. We’ll also have to be patient to find out if secret game Vivian Clark will also be getting an 8-bit upgrade.

Soda Drinker Pro is currently available on PC and Xbox One.