Do you own Unity after your Subscription is over?

I can't seem to find a 100% clear answer on this, and since this is a lot of money were talking about, I figure its better super safe than sorry. I was thinking of doing the subcription method for Unity, since well, I don't have 1500$ to spend all at once. I'm just double checking that, where it says "from $75/month", that after 20 months (once the total amount spent would equal $1500) that Unity would be mine and I wouldnt have to pay anymore. Is this true, or does the subscription method never end and you have to keep paying monthly until you decide to spend the whole 1500 at once?

 

I think that no, and is sadly, but this is the Unity world.

 

No, you do not own Unity even if you have subscribed for years and years.

 

Thank you both for the quick answer. Thankfully I asked first!

 

Welcome to the 50 shades of gray of unity, once the subscription is over.

 

This remember a old discussion about digital products as the music, in old times when you pay for a CD you only have rights about the physical CD and not the music, times change and is more just for Unity users have a leasing pay way and not a rent way. Well this world is not just.

 

Note that this is the same for other products that have a subscription. If you want to own Unity, don't get the subscription, simple enough. They give you a choice, unlike some companies (*cough*Adobe*cough*).

--Eric

 

Allegorithmic (Substance Designer & Painter) announced a rent-to-own subscription at GDC. That's the only one I've ever heard of though.

 

Yes, but that's not a subscription, it's just rent-to-own, which is a different thing.

--Eric

 

The subscription model is not about paying less. In the long run you pay more. The key draws of the subscription model are the differed payments. A smart business person can do a lot with the money saved through differed payment schemes.

The other key advantage is about the subscription model is you are automatically version upgraded. No big cash hits every time a new major release comes out. Again, accounting math can make this profitable.

But if you can't afford the upfront costs of pro, you probably qualify for the personal license.

 

Sounds like my parents trying to convince me that credit cards are cool... having the bank pay for things and me BARROW from a BANK whether or not I can actually afford something.

 

Credit cards can certainly have the same effect of differed payment. If you pay the entire balance off on the due date, and keep your wages in an interest bearing account, you can actually end up being paid to use them. Again, smart business person. Not a teenager in a mall.

 

How about taking it one step further? PayPal has a cash back feature (1%) when their debit card is used. You only need to figure out how to pay your credit card dues with their debit card. PayPal should be able to pull cash from the interest bearing account as necessary.

 

I'm living with the perspective of... my parents have bee paying this house off for 10 years and have had to remortgage so... I think we have paid off almost $60,000 of the $360,000 lol. As much I see the need for deferred payments for things like houses, I think I'd rather not spend money I don't have.

TL;DR: The banks can suck it, and I'll pay with debit... and that creepy double meaning is totally not intended.

It does. That was actually the first time I went into debt I wanted to order some $800 software, so I moved some money to my paypal from my bank (since my bank doesn't deal with certain countries) and then made the payment via paypal. Unfortunately, I did those two things within about an hour of each other. So... paypal sees the money wasn't there yet, and then pulls yet another 800 from my bank, leaving me at like -$400 + some overdraw fees. I was in debt for like 2 weeks, waiting for the money to transfer to paypal and then waiting for the money to transfer back. Haha, past me is such an idiot.

 

That's the trick... not using cc to buy things you cannot afford. Most people seem to get and use cc for the wrong reasons. If used the right way you benefit. I run most things from bills to shopping to gas through my discover card for this reason. Always at least 1% cash back and up to 5%. I pay my balance off weekly. I always have the cash to pay for it but then I would not be getting an extra $40 or more per month from cash back bonuses. It is not a fortune but still it is free money and silly not to get it.

 

So back to the accounting math. Using a 15% discount rate the cost neutral point ends up being at about 22 months. The release cycle from 4.0 to 5.0 was 28 months. So outright licences are slightly cheaper at this rate over an infinite cycle.

To get subscription costs cheaper overall you need to use about a 30% discount rate. I really don't know what's standard for games. They are high risk, but that high risk?

 

Okay so thanks everyone for the replies. And just to get it straight, If I were to buy Unity 5.0 ( the newly released, current version right?) then I would have to buy 6.0 all over again (another $1500) to upgrade it if I wanted to?

 

All upgrades so far have cost less than buying a new licence. It might be $750, or there might be an early adopted price of $600, or perhaps even less. It could be more, but I don't see it going that direction.