New licensing scheme for existing customers

I own a Unity pro + IOS + Android license, and already check all the info posted about the new schemes, however I can't find a way to upgrade "to own" for existing customers, sure there is a way for everyone else, but seems they forgot to do something about people that already trust in the product and own the license, they simply leave us in the same situation that totally new customers; besides that, all the related blogs seems to be closed, probably because the backslash caused by the new "upgrade" path; also seems that own IOS + Android (a US 1.500 investment) doesn't matter and is (again) simply ignored in all the options.

 

There isn't a way "to own" now. It's been completely replaced by subscriptions.

 

As an existing Pro owner you should have been contacted by someone from Unity with a transitional offer of some kind. Did you ever get an email or similar about that?

 

This.

You currently own a perpetual lisence to the version you have purchased. You can use that indefinitely, but you won't be able to get updates.

The own option basically works the same. Once you have subscribed for two years you can continue to use the version of Unity you have, but you can't get updates.

 

In fact there is, if u pay in advance two years you will own the last version of the product

 

No, I haven't been contacted yet, that is one of my concerns, I don't know the time when I should expect to be contacted, that process already begun?

 

Yes, I Understand those two options, thats exactly the reason behind my original post: "but seems they forgot to do something about people that already thrust in the product"; I want to "own" the new versions of the product but is not fair that Unity doesn't release an special price for existing customers, and leave us in the same position that totally new customers

 

They have a deal for existing customers. Email your local sales rep for details.

 

I'm in the same situation. I didn't get any information... and I have 4 licenses (3x 5.x pro + 1x 4.x)...

 

If anyone subscribes to unity 5 for two years, it will be auto-perpetual to him/her?

 

You should be contacted soon if you own a Unity perpetual license. You can check an estimated time frame here, and it depends on what type of license you own. We are currently emailing all 3.x, 4.x, and 5.x license holders this month. If you don't hear from us by the end of October please email support@unity3d.com and we should be able to help!

 

If you get any additional info, please let me know, I will do the same

 

Yes, I know, however its not fair that Unity leave existing owners in the same situation of new customers, that means that our current licenses don't have any value.

 

I'm trying to contact Unity about this thank you

 

Thank you, I'm very worried about this.

 

I received an offer to commit for two years at a special price (US 75) and own the new versions, however they don't have into account (in the offer) the Android, IOS or any additional licenses (as plus for some additional discount), only the pro product

 

Another thing of concern is the lack of a clear path to continue to upgrade the product after those two years

 

There are no "additional licenses" any more. That's half of the point of the new system.

Now if you license Unity you get everything the engine itself has to offer for all platforms that don't require special hardware licensing. The differences are the external services and revenue cap.

 

Yes, I understand that, I mean: take into account those existing licenses to do an additional discount, because the offer only takes into account the pro license

 

You are already getting two price drops. First, if you were pro for all three before, the new pricing is lower than what is was before. Second, you are getting another price drop because you were a prior pro customer, they are offering you an additional half off.

Basically if you were pro and mobile pro before, you are getting the best deal of everyone. Desktop only pro see a price bump, then a discount. And with the new features, plus is an even better deal for many of previous pro users. You're getting a good deal.

 

Uhmmm, the new pricing is not lower than before, the pro license + IOS + Android costs US 3.000 and the upgrade 1.500 and last at least two years before a mayor update, now the same two years for a new customer cost the same US 3.000 and twice the upgrade price, the new (discount) path cost us 1.800 (I can't see the lower price). (Second), yes I appreciate the offer however I'm in the same position that someone that owns only the pro license (without IOS + Android) Unity should consider an additional discount in recognition of those who owns additional products; finally is not clear what is going to happend in the future (two years from now) when I (again) own the product, will be a upgrade path for that future version (at the end of the two years)? I mean (maybe) another two years of commitment with reduced price for owners?, hope Unity clarify that.

 

@OldCat: Cost for Unity Pro + Android Pro + iOS Pro used to be $4,500. We're now only paying $3,000.

 

This. It is now cheaper than the combined price was before.

Nothing is ever clear what the future will be. It is unrealistic to expect promises of what the price will be in two years. It may change, it may not. It will probably be a slight variation on the subscription plan now, but only time will tell. Prices and plans have changed right up to, (and even after) plan launches almost every time for the last several major versions. No way would they commit or promise a plan/price structure 2 years from now.

 

Maybe some upgrade pricing was taken into the figure?

 

He mentions $3,000 and then immediately mentions the upgrade costing $1,500. If the upgrade cost of each is $750 it would have been $2,250 before. I don't know because I never had a copy of Unity Pro to upgrade.

 

I was thinking upgrades for Pro and one extra platform and then a new extra platform.

 

If he is talking about that his upgrade price for the original two additional platforms was $1500, that was probably the discounted price upgrading from a prior version. Which wouldn't mean that you get another discount on that discounted price the next time. They don't give discounts on the discounted price you paid last time, you get a discount on the full price. $1500 was a discounted upgrade on the full price. Just like $75 is a discounted price on the full price of $150. Which at full price is less than the old price of $225. So you are saving $75 already because the price change, and another $75 because you are upgraded. You are effectively paying 1/3 of what you would have paid before. A good deal, as you are getting both a lower price, and a discount.

 

After that time you will be on the same subscription plan as everyone else.

The price of the subscription might be slightly higher then what it is now, because prices go up. But prices will go up for everybody.

Don't expect any special treatment for former pro perpetual holders after the current offer expires. You'll have had two years of discount, no need to ask for more.

 

Thank you all for the comments, I don't want to be a troll only to have everything clear, I understand now that the new scheme is cheaper for me (however cost twice for a new user that don't need any mobile platform, jumps from us 1500 to us 3000), the price (for me) drops from 2.250 to upgrade all the products as @Ryiah states to US 1.800 (two years of commitment with the new discount offer for existing owners), it's not a 1/3 @zombiegorilla not even 1/2; I was mixing prices as @angrypenguin states (thanks), and if the discount to upgrade disapears in two years, jumps again to us 3.000, a higher price; that means that the new discount offer is barely ok for me despites the fact right now I only need to deploy to PCs. I still think that its a pity that Unity leave me in the same position that someone that owns only the pro license (without IOS + Android) Unity should consider an additional discount in recognition of those who owns additional products; finally @BoredMormon I understand that Unity can't give prices today of licenses two years in the future, however before the new scheme you had a upgrade path (to own) regardless of the price, and you knew for sure you could upgrade your product; I want Unity to be clear if they are going to support upgrades or they are going to remove any support (special price) for upgrades for existing and NEW owners, if they are still supporting to own the product then they should clarify this for NEW owners also. Thanks again for all the info, that helps me a lot to make my decisions.

 

Lets be clear. Unity is removing owners. Its not intended that anyone use a perpetual type license in the future. The rent to own option won't make sense for most people. Eventually it will get phased out.

Unity is moving to subscriptions. Everyone on a subscription will be able to upgrade to the latest version at any point. There will be no real major versions any more. So the whole concept of upgrades is going away.

There are no more separate IOS + Android licenses. Get over this. Everyone pays the same now, no matter what platforms you use. Like it or not, that's the way it is.

I get it. You are a special snowflake that wants cheaper prices forever. That's not the case, after the special license upgrade period is done, you will be treated exactly the same as all of the other users. You'll have more then got the expected value out of your pro license by then.

 

@BoredMormon Wrong, Unity still have a pay to own option with two years of commitment to the subscription, that option doesn't exist a few months ago and was added after many users request (thanks Unity about that), so your comment about not making sense doesn't really apply; second and third points are clear, you miss my original point. and finally besides your funny note, yes I want to be able to continue to upgrade the product at a special price if I commit to buy it, as surely every NEW OWNER wants.

 

There will be no special upgrade prices in the future because there will be nothing to upgrade to. The transition offer is one time and last chance. Any other discounts are most likely promotions or other marketing style events targeted to potential "new" customers.

 

It seems some free users are quick to chime in about pricing without really understanding pro pricing... So here are a few clarifications:

1. The new pro subscription pricing is a price hike for all existing pro customers because we lost the upgrade pricing discount. Unity is offering a temporary (1 or 2 year) discounted price of $75/mo for existing perpetual customers to get you into a subscription.
2. You have to subscribe for 2 years before getting "pay-to-own", even for existing perpetual customers. However, back in June they promised immediate "pay-to-own" to existing perpetual customers. I've tried contacting Unity about the change but still haven't received a response.
3. After 2 years of paying for a pro subscription you can cancel your subscription and continue to use the last version that you had access to but receive no more updates or bug fixes. If you want continued bug fixes after March 2018 you'll need to continue giving Unity $125/mo.

 

@mdrotar thanks for all the info, your post summarizes all, and yes, I also think some users don't understand the real cost of the licenses and the big increase that means the new system; the "immediate pay to own" promise is new for me, if have success and could get any info about that from Unity I appreciate you let me know; its a shame doesn't exist a plan beyond 2018 for owners (old and new), I guess I should make some hard decisions in the next two years; @Ostwind always will be a version number for the software, even if hidden from users, its impossible to control software without that, so there always be the possibility to upgrade to newer versions, in fact if you pay for two years you will keep the last VERSION you pay for, so versions are not going to magically disappear. Probably the conclusion is: Unity is giving us a transition period but in the end will move owners and new users to the same costly system.

 

It was only added because some people were very disgruntled over losing the perpetual license. If it hadn't been for them we wouldn't even have a rent-to-own option available to us. Wouldn't surprise me if we eventually lost it though just like we lost the perpetual license. Then again even Unity likely doesn't know where they will be in a couple years or more. They could very well go back to perpetual again.

 

Well I did not say anything about removing version numbers but about the fact there wont be any "licenses" sold anymore that are tied to fixed numbers. They will just sell subscriptions that give you access to latest versions. There is no upgrade paths in such system. Only thing they might is sometimes offer a small discount to potential returning customers who have had their subscription expire in the past 6-12 months but the old 50-60% discount with upgrade path will disappear for good.

 

Just in case you're referring to me I want to point out that I do have Unity Pro licenses. They're just not paid because they come from signing up and getting approved for non-disclosured platforms. So in my case it's console developers chiming in about pricing (not that I don't understand them though).

Just keep in mind that the blog post in question (https://blogs.unity3d.com/2016/06/05/subscription-why/) has a link at the very top to another blog post (https://blogs.unity3d.com/2016/06/16/evolution-of-our-products-and-pricing/) where they supposedly made changes.

It's entirely possible they intended for everyone to disregard the first blog post, but they should have said if that was so.

 

In this blog post they said

But according to the offer email I got, they've changed their mind and it no longer applies. That is, even existing perpetual customers have to pay into a subscription for 24 months to get pay-to-own. I'm interested to hear if anyone else has been told something different in their offer.

 

I'm beginning to think that's the case.

 

Something to consider for Pro users is do they still need Pro? The new Plus level will offer everything many Pro users needed. The price cap for needing Pro is now $200K pa, which will take some below the required level. Plus instead of Pro could lead to considerable savings.

 

Pretty much this. It's exactly what I said.

 

I've been using Unity since 3.6... I've been a pro owner for every major version since. I've been happy as an owner -- I like things simple and clean, and I don't want to deal with the accounting headaches that royalties and subscriptions create which is why I keep coming back to Unity; or had until now.

When I first looked at the offer emails, I figured that they were simply spam trying to sell subscriptions to free users registered with Unity. Here's what it appears to amount to, much to my dismay:

As of March of 2017, the then current version of unity that pro owners have paid for will be the last update to which they're entitled. Per the blog, there will be no Unity 6, but a series of subscription-based updates. Your subscription can be locked at the then-current version after 24 months, similar to the way your pro license will be frozen at whatever version it's at in March. You can stop paying your subscription and continue using it after that point with no further upgrades/updates. If you stop paying before that point, your license will be invalidated until your account is brought current (presumably), or 24 consecutive months have elapsed.

I have two major problems with this, and o would hope you'd be able to tell me if I'm drawing an incorrect conclusion:

1.) As a purchaser of 5.x pro, I understood the license to be invalidated by a major version change; that is, Unity 6 would be the end of Unity Technologies' obligations in our contract (Material alteration of terms).

2.) We have not invested simply in the version of the engine, but hundreds or thousands of dollars into the Asset Store; locking out the license would prevent access to the purchased goods which can only be downloaded through the application.

The jist of the blog posts have amounted to the creators crying, "Boohoo, we made agreements and added more features than we should have!" This is called the cost of business; and the reach of engineers desires should always be tempered by cold realities of the Controller's balance sheets.

Sadly, I have to say I won't be joining the subscribers; if I have to account for the uncertainties of monthly expense, I will do so with another engine when the investments I've made to date are no longer compatible with my deprecated software.

 

Your surmise is correct.

Unity's argument is that the change would have happened in march 2017, so their obligation ends to you at that point. They could simply get around it by changing the version number in march 2017, so it's not a huge legal hurdle.

They will all still be available on the version that you own.

Well yes. That's why they are changing the balance sheets.

In general the major release cycle lead to some unhealthy practices of delaying features and bringing forward unfinished features, all to encourage customers to upgrade to the next major version. In theory this change should allow Unity to focus on the engine more then the release cycle.

You can always pay 24 months in advance in a lump sum. That puts you in essentially the same situation as the old perpetual lisence. The price has changed, but that's just part of doing business.

Otherwise best of luck with your journey forward. Hopefully you can find an engine with pricing that better suits your needs.

 

@stslavik I feel the same way that you, probably all owners feel the same way: betrayed.

My conclusion after many emails going to and from Unity, and all the help in this blog, is this:

All the stuff about the “production cycle” and how the new subscription scheme will improve it, is nothing more than a smoke curtain, hundreds of software companies works under the “version” scheme since the beginning of time, including big players as Microsoft or Google, all this, is about incrementing the income and have a base of “slave” clients tied to monthly payments.

Unity is incrementing the license cost of Pro in a factor of 2x, jumping from US 1.500 to US 3.000, based in a 24 months life cycle; and due to the fact that you will lost your capacity/right to upgrade your license with US 750 (again for a cycle of 24 months) the upgrade cost is jumping by a factor of 4x, some people talk about price reductions under the new scheme, that is absolutely false.

When you invest in a software product you also invest in the promise to be able to upgrade to new versions at a fraction of the cost, that right will be totally lost, taken away from you unilaterally. In 24 months from now (march 2017) you will be in exactly the same position that totally new customer, so any benefit of being a loyal customer will be lost.

You current investment in any addon license, like IOS or Android (US 3.000 or more) is lost, those licenses are included in the new product and don't entitled you to any discount for the new subscription model, so you are right now in exactly the same position that anyone who only owns the basic Pro license.

The Assets are a real problem, developers tend to upgrade those assets to new versions, so you will gradually lost your access to them, and worst of all if you don’t upgrade your pro license you will not be able to use new assets.

Unity is offering a special price of US 75 for the next 24 months for existing owners, after this time doesn’t matters if you are totally new or old owner, you will pay US 125/month. what a bad strategy to retain customers, I’m going for this promotion to have enough time to decide if I will stay here or move to another engine, right now I have an investment in Unity licenses in 24 months from now I will have nothing that prevent that kind of movement (may be assets, but after a lost of US4.500 or more what means a few hundreds more hahahaha ).

Any customer new or existing can own a perpetual license with 24 months commitment.

 

Closing.
This has been discussed ad nausea, to the point that unity made changes to the pricing structure a ~ year ago based on feedback. For further information please contact sales@unity.com.