How to Fix ScriptableObject Values Persisting Between Play Sessions in Unity

ScriptableObject values persisting is runtime mutation of an asset. Copying for runtime state fixes it. Here is how.

How to fix it

1. Do not mutate shared assets at runtime

A ScriptableObject is a single shared asset. Writing per-instance runtime values into it changes the asset itself, and in the editor those changes persist after play. Treat the asset as read-only config.

2. Copy for runtime state

If you need to modify values at runtime, Instantiate a copy of the ScriptableObject and mutate the copy, leaving the original asset's authored values untouched.

3. Store runtime state separately

Keep changing per-instance state in a regular component or a runtime structure, using the ScriptableObject only for shared, authored configuration. This cleanly separates data that should persist from data that should reset.

Catching the ones you can't reproduce

The hardest version of this to fix is the one you can't reproduce — it only happens on a player's hardware, OS, driver, or save state, under conditions that simply aren't present on your machine. A report that says “it crashed” or “it froze” gives you nothing to act on, so the bug survives release after release while quietly costing you players.

Automatic error capture closes that gap. Each failure arrives with its full stack trace, the device and OS, the build number, and a breadcrumb trail of what the player did right before it broke, so even a failure you have never seen becomes a specific, reproducible issue. Fold identical failures into one signature ranked by how many players each hits, and your worklist sorts itself worst-first instead of arriving as a stream of vague complaints.

This is where a tool like Bugnet earns its place. Its SDK captures every Unity error automatically with the full stack trace plus device, OS, memory, build, and game-state context, folds duplicates into one grouped issue with an occurrence count, and ties each to the build it first appeared on — so you fix the problem that hurts the most players first and confirm it is gone when its signature disappears from the next release.