Asset-store + Cryptocurrencies = Match made in heaven!

You'd think the Unity Pro being essentially made free that would be a fine hint that Unity isn't interested in the average person's currency or their crypto-currencies.

The asset store is mostly a service to asset developers and their customers. It will foster the development of competent Unity expertise for Unity's paying customers.

Why would Unity and more importantly asset store vendors want to get involved with crypto-currencies?

Stating crypto-currencies are more honest and legitimate because they are not as easily susceptible to tampering as other currencies is false sales tactic. The way to honest business, honest government, and honest citizenry is, no surprise here: honesty.

 

We're not planning on implementing any Cryptocurrencies, it's not worth the effort for us there are plenty of ways to pay currently.

 

Well for one, for every sale paid in bitcoin, they'd save at least 2-3% in payment processing fees compared to credit cards. And yes, I believe it would earn them new sales too. There are hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of bitcoin enthusiasts out there these days, if the unity store accepts bitcoin before say the UE4 marketplace does, it will likely gain them quite a few users that are deciding between the two.

Anyway, I guess we got the answer from Aurore, for now. We'll see how things progress in the future, personally I think Unity will come around, as I believe bitcoin will eventually, maybe in 5-10 years, become the obvious choice for payments, at least in the "geek" / computer proficient communities. Soon enough I think a shop for developers not accepting bitcoin will seem as ridiculous as an IT support desk only accepting snail-mail rather than e-mail inquiries.

 

Some quick stats Googled at random. Take them with a grain of salt, but consider the scale you are talking about.

• PayPal has 165 million active users globally
• The US alone has 200 million credit card holders

Bit coins has maybe millions? Not even worth anyone at UT getting out of bed for.

 

I'm a professional developer by trade and am very much ingrained in the "geek" / computer proficient community. I have zero interest in bitcoin / cryptocurrency. Right now it's pretty much the hipster crowd.

Another thing to consider... hundreds of thousands or even millions means absolutely nothing... the only useful stat would be how many of those people are independent game developers and how many of them are in or interested in the unity technology stack. That number get sliced very quickly.

 

Go one step further. It requires three things to make a bit coin asset user

• Access to bit coins
• Desire to purchase Unity Assets
• No access to alternative payment methods

Very thin slice indeed.

 

Why not? Does not an open source currency seem exciting to the developer in you? I just don't understand how it can not. Payments are a pretty huge part of everyday life, does it not sound appealing to be in control of that process yourself? To be the sole person owning the rights to your account, trusting math and code (that you can look at or even modify yourself), instead of bankers and politicians that you have never met, operating behind closed doors. To be able to send your money to anyone, anywhere, without middlemen taking their cut, slowing down the process and imposing restrictions. You can even use the blockchain model for so many other things than money, like smart contracts, proof of identity/ownership, domain name registration, messaging, account management, and likely countless other uses that it is up to us developers to come up with. I view it as similar to the internet in terms of innovation, potential and just awesomeness in general.

As for the user base, yes I am aware that it is relatively minuscule right now, but as said, it is steadily growing, and there's a chicken and egg problem; the more companies accept bitcoin, the faster it will grow, but many companies won't accept it yet due to the low popularity. I was asking UT to get ahead of the curve, paving the way for bitcoin's success, so that both the company and the users can reap the advantages, maybe not immediately, but in the future.

Also, @BoredMormon, you underestimate the enthusiasm of bitcoin users, as I am probably an attest to. You say that the to make a bitcoin user we must have access to no other payment method, but you are misunderstanding. If bitcoin payment is available, we actively choose that before other payment methods because we believe it is better, not merely a back-up.

And @superpig, how about with payment processors that seamlessly convert the bitcoin for you, so that the actual bitcoin never enter your hands, you just get USD as usual, does that also complicate things with the law? I am curious. I don't know what kind of cart software or payment provider you are currently using, if not a custom one, but many of them support such payments these days through the same APIs as f.ex credit cards. For example Stripe.

 

I have a feeling that this will devolve into a debate. I'm closing this, it's a still a no.