Any update on phrasing of 'Personal Edition'?

Any update? GDC is long gone and it's almost a month since discussion started on the phrasing of 'Personal Edition'. The topic was raised, 3600 votes were cast on Unity Feedback, and much discussion ensued. The last word was, "When everything is back to normal I guess the correct people will make a decision on the matter and let people know."

Gigi

 

Bummer.

 

Not at all? Not even for pro users who have "made with personal edition" on mobile builds? Because that's not even true.

So much for democracy.

 

Democracy is a form of government, not an effective business strategy.

 

Seems like a reasonable decision (at least for the truly free users such as myself). Personal Edition may imply for personal use but I can also see it as a step up from Free Edition which may have been considered. Besides I am content with 4.6 and yet to download 5 so don't even see this yet. Lol

 

That's too bad. I was hoping they would re-phrase it, or simply leave it off.

 

This sad confirmation strangely coincides with the April 1 joke of Godot's blog (which is free and open source - MIT license):

"Splash Screen of Pride

We know you are too poor to afford professional software, so we are following industry leaders and Free Godot is adding an unchangeable, mandatory splash screen. This way you can let your customers know how proud you are to be poor."

Full text: http://www.godotengine.org/wp/godot-is-now-really-free/

Really funny!

 

LOL following the trend of industry leaders... either they see the PE the same way as many here do or else they heard the ruckus thrown over it. At any rate nothing wrong with creating some form of barrier to entry. In this case it is just a couple of words. A small price to pay to gain access to the features 5 appears to have. Personally I'd have rather seen a $97 Personal or Indy version but a lot of people probably would have screamed about that.

Unity might be surprised at the amount of money they could make if they offered another version with the words Indy Edition or Powered by Unity 5... and charged $100 to $150 for it. I am thinking a lot of people would grab it.

 

But $1,500 is a huge price to pay to remove a splash screen which they claim themselves is of little importance.

So why charge so much, Unity?

I just want some value for for money. I don't even have the option for a refund because I bought it through Studica.
This would make for some VERY bad press.

 

NOOOO STTAHHPPP. This isn't about the splash screen. This thread is about the naming. Albeit, Personal Edition slapped right in the front of your game, especially when you're on a team (it's kinda awkward... makes it feel less... "professional", lol).

But no, we're talking about the naming so please don't start the whole splash screen/gray theme debate again.

 

Thank you for the update.
Gigi

 

I would've liked it to sound like it's `part of the game` and not `here's what the game is made with` .... I liked 'powered by unity3d' better. Maybe though the extra 'pain' in the wording is a prod to get more people to go pro.

 

Thats exactly what it is. Theyre basically bullying us into getting the paid version instead of actually giving us something for our money.

 

Maybe. But even if Unity would change it - many people would still not be satisfied because it's simply not possible to satisfy everybody.

I was wondering, though:
1. Does the unity splash screen for Pro contain the wording "Personal Edition" as well if enabled?
2. How do I enable the Splash screen on Pro if I want to?

Nobody is bullying you into using Pro.

 

Exactly!

For me, this decision is a filter for future crap games that will take "Unity" name.
Implies: "This game sucks? Cut some slack, as it was done with the Personal Edition". But and the good ones?

Or maybe it's just to let us ashamed. "Prove you're not amateur: buy the full version!"

 

Even if they gave you something other than the removal of splash screens for android/ios pro I would be slightly happier. Thats my main complaint. How can Unity say that the splash screen doesn't matter when they charge over a grand to remove it? There are literally no other benefits to android/ios pro right now and the value of base pro has been lowered (for some users) even though the cost is the same.

 

There is no shame in having Personal Edition on the splash screen. Yes it *could* be misinterpreted as you releasing stuff with a version intended for personal use only but we all know that is not the case and any player checking into it would find out the same. In the end it is what it is. Whether Unity charges $150, $1,500 or $15,000 to remove that Personal Edition branding is up to them. A person either finds it worth it and pays the price or doesn't. I also think today's gamers are as likely to assume that Personal Edition means a "one man (or woman) band" as they are to assume you are doing something wrong. But seriously if it is the appearance of "being cheap" people are concerned with then don't be cheap!

 

Plenty of value in pro still. Primarily in that you can make more then 100k revenue.

 

If you have the latest patch version you can enable it from platform settings and it will display the splashscreen without the personal text

 

Unity staff are awesome at ignoring questions.

 

I didn't ask anything about the 100k limit. I was asking why you think the splash screen is worth over a grand to remove?
Also I would like to know if there are any plans to give people who buy ios/android pro a bit more value for their money?

 

I think most of us feel that 'Powered By Unity' sounds better.

Is the 'Personal Edition' tag supposed to leave a bad taste in our mouths -pressuring us into purchasing pro?

I mean... I get it. But it seems like you'd catch more bees with explosions and fire and laser and a kickass intro where POWERED BY UNITY burns into the screen then explodes your eyes into mush.

Just sayin.

 

Thank you.

 

The thing is that for Android and iOS pro you pay the money only for splash screen. They have no other value added as you get the same services and benefits just by buying the normal pro version which is why he he probably asked the question will there be anything to add more value.

I personally already asked getting more benefits in regards of cloud build HERE but never got any answer.

 

Indeed. That is pretty insane interpretation of the branding on the free/personal version. They are promoting their new new model. The old powered by Unity meant pretty much nothing to players. Specifying that it was made with personal edition might convince someone who saw it check out that is. Probably a much better a chance converting someone to a Unity (editor) user. More of a (potential) call-to-action than just a logo. The whole "shaming" paranoia is utter nonsense. If UT was the type of company that would go that route, they are doing a pretty piss poor job at being an evil corporation.

 

Man why don't you just change the wording? You're really attached to that wording for some reason?

 

It's promoting a new product. Since personal users are getting a professional engine for free, having that brand name on their game is an amazing trade off. If could worse, they could have just build an ad service in to the spash and then they could sell ads on your game.

 

Ouch.

 

Or is it?

 

I don't think majority of people were asking re-branding the whole product but rather have a bit more neutral version of the text only in the splash screen. Even Andy asked about it here.

 

The bug priority would be something I'm interested in, apart from that. I'm not sure what's an actual benefit to developers from that list? Maybe analytics. I appreciate that you've made Unity personal edition, which is very cool of you..

But I think it could be worth while trying to find ways to sweeten the deal with Pro. Make it less of a paywall and more of a proper professional suite, a flagship if you will.

 

I do disagree with this "The whole "shaming" paranoia is utter nonsense". I have to believe that this was part of the discussion about branding. They may have not said "let's shame them into pro" , but I am pretty sure it was at the least "what may help push them to pro" . I do not really care if they do not change it. I would be very happy if they did, I do think "Powered By" or "Built With" or "Powered by PE" would be better myself.
Still happy with what the they have provided, I do not think I will ever have to worry about the 100,000 . If I did, and survived the Heart attack, I would buy everything they offer .

 

Who am I to question this work? But I've to remember: there was also a sittuation at Microsoft when they remove the start button from Windows 8 (I imagine it was after hundreds of man hours debating, creating marketing assets, e-mails, CRM campaigns, PR campaigns, events)... What the vast majority thought about it? And, of course, there was resistance to bring back the button (contradicting users).

I'm not questioning remove the phrase and/or the splash screen. The fact is the product name (Personal Edition) seems a version with fewer resources, without business license and not even makes think it could be free (but only a less cost version).

 

Oh for...

 

"but I am pretty sure it was at the least "what may help push them to pro"
Aurore -To clear this up before it goes further, this wasn't the case."

O.K., I stand corrected then..

 

Just curious.Was it Riccitiello who gave the super idea of personal and splash screen?

 

Seems to me that if they were trying to push or bully us into buying pro, they would not have made almost all the pro 4 features free. In fact, I would think they would go the other way and make fewer things free.

 

You're not fooling anyone, Riccitiello!

 

April Fools'?