The industry backlash wasn’t about any hype wave. My game is nowhere near marketable yet, but I internally switched to using godot despite how much work I have to repeat because unity has declared hostile intent towards indie games. Even if they walked it back the threat of their whims is still there.
Not just the threat, unity clearly stated they are still moving forward with their plans, the fee just won’t apply retroactively. Of course, this is how it should have been from the initial announcement, but too little too late - it is the right decision to not use their tools for your future project.