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New products and prices coming soon

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by SaraCecilia, May 31, 2016.

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  1. hippocoder

    hippocoder

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    Why funny? I listen to Unity on slack and am a moderator so I thought it would be helpful :)

    I think it's time for Unity to reply to these important queries so I'm sure they'll be along shortly to catch up. Probably busy day over there! Good questions though.

    It's a good rant. I don't necessarily agree with some points as I'm seeing them pull their pants up and get to work on bugs and stuff, but the communication aspect I 100% agree with... seems like the surprise was the thing here. I think a celebratory event of Unity like Unite probably isn't the best place to announce you have to pay more (even if you're given more).

    What would make you change your mind if you could get a single thing sorted?
     
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  2. landon912

    landon912

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    Communication, seriously. It's a lot easier for me to sympathize with your trouble if you actually tell me about them.

    UI is a great example. We went through like 3 systems, but was never really told what they were, why they were scrapped, when they started working, etc.

    Finally, after many years, we found a great UI system dumped on our plate. Maybe, if the community was included in the first attempt, it could've been critiqued to make it usable or just get the idea across to immediately stop work on it. I'm talking about: "here is a diagram of our first draft of design" communication. The community has proven that there are knowledgeable people here; we aren't all blistering idiots like myself. :p We can help; we know what we want best. Keep us in the loop at every major stepping stone.

    One may say, "oh they're doing that with Input! see!". But only kind of. I want a glass screen. Blog post on "hey, we are starting X major feature refactor. Here's our current plan, and here's who is working on it. *List of Unity Employee Forum Users* Ask away on the forums. We will let you know monthly how things are going."

    The last Friday of every month should be "Be a Glass Screen Day" at Unity in which every team gets together and writes a full out blog update on their system. What they've been doing, what they tried, what they researched, the trouble they had, etc.

    Unity has it's community going for it. Embrace it, it's currently your most valuable selling point for a small team, honestly.
     
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  3. Undead

    Undead

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    Heh, offtopic pointing out the competition are going to take full advantage of the latest unity self fail...ok

    Well anyway the new price plans will more than likely kill off unity in the following years so with that I'm out of here,

    Too much disappointment in this engine now for me to stay any longer even if they do an about-face and decide to offer perpetual licences again I'm not going to sink another $ in to this company further than the $3500 I have already put in this most likely sinking ship.
     
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  4. Dracones

    Dracones

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    Bringing all the platforms into a core product is fantastic. This will become more important down the road with VR as platforms like Daydream go widespread across Android, IOS and so on. Unity is pretty well set to push those apps across all platforms.

    The problem I see is there isn't much value in the $35 license. The point between $0 and $125 needs to be a bit more middle of the road and offer more value IMO. Make the splash screen more optional/varied/professional, up the revenue cap to 200k or 250k and maybe even up the cost to $50 instead of $35 if you wanted to.

    My main point being is I think the current pricing is completely missing a value option between the $0 and $125 which should act as a natural upgrade path for users as they go from hobbyists into the professional space.
     
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  5. kB11

    kB11

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    I agree. If they increased the revenue cap in addition to allowing more control over the splash screen, this tier would be a lot more enticing. Currently I don't really consider Plus unless I determined it was a good offer for the additional service tiers (and I absolutely wanted those).
     
  6. knotFF

    knotFF

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    I have a Pro license that I bought during one of the Unites with a nice discount.
    I am doing only Desktop game and I do require some of the Pro features for performance.
    Now it seems I will have to start paying 3x the what I payed for to get the same application over the same time.

    As the game development for indies gets tougher AND even Unity's number showing that US$ 400 is the average revenue for games these days, which gets down to about US$ 100-150 IF you remove the top tiers. So my point is these numbers don't add up.


    I will wait for the dust to settle and see what will be Unity's feedback on all the comments here, but right now I am thinking..."release my current game with my Pro license and check out Unreal Engine".
     
  7. Kondor0

    Kondor0

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    What a way to start the day... so I have a 4.x version and apparently I can still upgrade it for 750 to 5.x but next year I'll have to go with the subscription model if I want updates, am I reading this right? ffs
     
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  8. knotFF

    knotFF

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    They mentioned there will be a 24/36 month subscription, which I guess means a little discount if you by this type of long term subscription, but I am worried about the lack of information on $$$.
    Meanwhile you have a fully feature engines (unreal and cryengine), free, just across the road.
     
    Skolstvo likes this.
  9. Trexug

    Trexug

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    Would it be possible to have a separate place to ask specific questions about the new pricing model?
    The honest questions seem to be buried by witch hunting, rants, unreal tutorials and business experts who know the exact dollar amount that each tier should cost.
    (Yes, I realize that there are also posts expressing valid concerns)
     
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  10. hippocoder

    hippocoder

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    This is the best place to ask questions about the licensing model. It's a moderated announcement thread with the ambition to keep your voices heard, and Unity's told me they're monitoring this thread closely. They'll reply to your concerns so don't worry, keep posting.

    I'm trying to keep it clean so people like you can be heard.
     
  11. Kondor0

    Kondor0

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    You are saying that like is so easy and fast to change the engine I'm using. If I can make games alone in this engine is because I have years of experience with it. I can't just take 1 or 2 years of practice with a new engine so I can have the same level of mastery with it. Meh, the games I have in mind are not that complex or AAA level of quality so I'll probably stick with the last version of Unity because I will certainly not joining some stupid subscription model.

    And UT knows that their competition has failed to grab their share of the market, if they were uncertain about their power over the market they wouldn't dare f** us in the a** like this.

    I also blame all the clueless wannabes that were constantly whining in the forums about splash screen and the dark skin, you gave this idea to UT and now serious devs like me that saved the money to buy their perpetual licenses will have to pay for that.
     
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  12. Bralgs

    Bralgs

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    Please beautify the splash screen for mobile devices. It looks very outdated. The text "powered by unity" is ok. But I think simply the text "unity" with the logo would be amazing. :) Unity is a big brand and very popular, it needs an image/impression which says: we are the boss of modern game engines! :cool:
     
    Last edited: May 31, 2016
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  13. Brity

    Brity

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    as landon91235 says.. the communication is a real problem with unity staff.
    goto to this link and see https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/39939
    The Blacksmith: Atmospheric Scattering.

    scroll down and read the comments... now look for the replies from unity staff... why they didn't bother to reply?.
    whats that about? could someone from unity explain why no one at unity bothered to reply to any of these comments? (apart from one comment)

    NO? NO one from unity will reply here on this subject because the only real true answer is a member of staff(s) didn't do their job. But Why? please CEO you need to figure this out and fix it..

    it makes me feel like unity staff see's us the customers as just a pain in the ass. you vs us attitude.
    You know.. that "oh they will never be happy so don't bother wasting your energy".
    if anyone worked at a customer services telecoms you will know what i mean by the company vs customer attitude.

    Anyway I could go on with my rant but i wont.

    If unity wants to get out of this problem they now face with pricing to customer satisfaction then they've got a lot of work to do.

    I don't think there's any point changing the plus package because lets be realistic here, if unity removes the splash screen then no one will upgrade to pro unless they have to. so although it works for us the customer it wont work for unity.(financially)

    So the only real solution here is to drop the price of unity pro. a huge cut in the price. $50.00pm max.

    if however unity had delivered on the input system + terrain system + nested prefabs then I would say you could increase it to $53.00pm. but you didn't so you lost customer trust and that's what messed up crytek fast.

    Look at crytek now "hey we will give you this awesome engine for free" but yet no one comes.. they cant even come up with a strategy to gain profits from creating an ad system because they don't have enough users... it could be a slow death for them but they did well with amazon deal.
     
  14. hippocoder

    hippocoder

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    OK but that's actually landon's rant and you're repeating it. That's not really helping :) As for crytek - the engine is flat out more difficult to use, so there's different reasons involved... Unity has already surmounted these issues if anyone can make any old thing and throw up with a splash screen ;)
     
  15. Lars-Steenhoff

    Lars-Steenhoff

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    Just a few thoughts I have in my head:
    • Light skin is just fine for me most of the time, I have a brightness slider on my monitor.
      ( I have pro so I can choose, and my choice light most of the time)
    • The splash screen, I don't care too much about it, as long as it does not say personal edition.
    • With the feature parity of unity free and pro I will be tempted to go with unity free after my unity 5 pro perpetual licence is not good anymore for important updates. This would save a lot of money I could better spend in the asset store and this way expanding unity to do what I want.
     
    Last edited: May 31, 2016
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  16. Brity

    Brity

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    haha I'm not repeating it I'm simply extending it.. and it's very helpful if the right people read it and act on it :)
    maybe someone will do something about it ;)

    do you have any helpful suggestions?
    what do you think unity should do with the pricing?

    oh and about crytek.. trust is very important in this business. many people wont switch over to crytek because of they dont trust them. you say its hard but everything is easy when you know how. every person thats used cry engine for a fair amount of time says its easy. the same with any engine. but productivity and trust matter more.
     
  17. hippocoder

    hippocoder

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    People have heard my opinions earlier in the thread, I would rather make space for others so at this point I am just keeping things clean so when Unity reads everyone's opinions they get to really read it.
     
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  18. Brity

    Brity

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    lol yeah i thought so, but hey dont worry theres plenty of room, they wont run out of space :)
     
  19. Teila

    Teila

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    This is what we did. Unity Personal version was revealed at a time when we were gathering the money for three subscriptions. We are putting that into the game in other ways, a big part of it from the asset store but also better tools for all of us.

    I am very grateful to Unity for this because the assets and tools we have used helped us to create our game with a small team. :)
     
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  20. Brity

    Brity

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    if you are going over to play with the beast I suggest you take a look at skookum script.. its impressive indeed.
     
  21. arkon

    arkon

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    Any ideas as to what Unreal engine can change to make the users transition from unity easier? you never know some kind of plugin for Unreal to make the jump easy would be a money spinner. for me it's just c# and the ease by which you can add scripts to game objects.
     
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  22. hippocoder

    hippocoder

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    That needs it's own thread I think @arkon @Brity If you want to discuss engine interop or conversion, feel free to make a separate thread. This thread is about products and pricing.

    Please use an existing thread for the purpose or make one if you aren't discussing the topic which is about new products and prices. I'll delete those that don't comply. Be as honest as you like, just not offtopic :)
     
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  23. Zwilnik

    Zwilnik

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    Something I'd really like the Pro option to have at the moment is an "Incident" pack.

    Apple's Developer subscription ($99 per year) gives you 2 incidents that you can use to get direct support from their engineers. When you're trying to iron out a bug that's cropped up just before a deadline it can be a lifesaver.

    Currently I've hit a bug in Unity which other people have been reported, but has now been listed as cleared in 5.3.5 (it hasn't) that's a showstopper for us. I can't re-open the bug, just comment on it and to submit a new bug I'd have to upload the entire game project with it (can't do that as Unity isn't covered by our NDA). So I've submitted a new one with a blank project in the hope that someone will at least take a look or email me to work on it with us.

    If we had actual incident packs, I could use one now to get a direct hook up so a Unity engineer knows this is important stuff stopping a paying customer doing work and possibly help get it fixed.
     
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  24. yakandco

    yakandco

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    I know there's some users upset with the changes and not wanting to offend.

    We've gone from a $2700 a year subscription that included iOS and android pro to $1500 a year pro plan, so in our case thank you for the decrease.

    I was wondering if you could shed any light on what the 'flexible seat' means for the different plans. Do we get the same two seat installation with pro? Or more than that? Does it cost extra for more seats? Etc.

    Thanks
     
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  25. kburkhart84

    kburkhart84

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    I have a valid question, but I don't think I will like the answer. I began a 12-month subscription period a few months ago, and I'm regretting it. I primarily bought it because I didn't like the "personal edition" part of the splash screen. I never cared about the dark skin, and all the features I need were added into the personal edition, so call me stupid, but I'm paying $75 a month to not show "personal edition." Considering the new splash screen will no longer say "personal edition" I will now be paying $75 for nothing, as there isn't anything I can use.

    So, I know when they released the new personal edition that added features, they allowed some people to cancel the subscriptions, which made sense. Would this now be possible since the splash screen is changing, though it is quite a small change (relative to all the additions to the free version with 5.0)?

    Also, I'm with some of the other people here. I'm only developing for Desktop and have no interest in Unity for mobile. I believe I have better options if I wanted to develop mobile games, but I want to develop somewhat high end 3d games for desktop instead.
     
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  26. laurentlavigne

    laurentlavigne

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    Brilliant! I didn't think about that. The unicorn could even be humping the logo and you know the plus side of that: instant
    4chan
    fame

    Unity suddenly becomes the most recognized brand on the web alongside doge and trump.

    I think that the current splashscreen looks so cheap that any publicity is better publicity.
     
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  27. salgado18

    salgado18

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    About all the people that say "Desktop only", "no cloud build", "remove/leave splash screen":

    These are your use cases.

    I don't develop for desktop, I develop for Android and iOS. But that's no reason to say they should take away VRs and Windows Phones and Linuxes and all that just because I don't use. Also, it was very unfair that everyone could make stuff with Pro for every single platform except Android and iOS. Let them put everything together, ok?

    Don't want the external services, like cloud, multiplayer, analytics? Don't buy Pro license! I truly believe they should market their Plus license for indie developers jumping to more serious development, and developers with serious needs like larger studios could benefit from the Pro license. That way, Plus would remove the splash screen (like it should) and give some limited use of the services (like it is), and Pro would be unrestricted in power and possibilities.

    Fight for a better license model, not something that fits your needs and yours only.
     
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  28. CamelD

    CamelD

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    I think they should keep things how they were before because I dont get the purpose in doing this 75 dollars a month was good and I don't think that you should be limited on multiplayer. Over all I don't get the point so Im just gonna say this is kinda stupid , unity should be kept the way it was and should stay that way because it just doesnt seem reasonable it just seems like a way to get more money and its also more complicated in a way it should be just personal and pro instead of personal, no custom spash screen and not that much and pro which is the more expensive version of its previous license with the possible intent of milking more cash out of unity. why would I want to use unity if I have to pay way more than before for an unknown reason just to get unlimited revenue and custom multiplayer. I thought unity was supposed to support all things but putting limitations on that could impact small games with more than 20 players at once. overall it seems like a step backwards and not a step forwards, IGN 0/0 feels like an EA game because its just a cash grab as far as I am concerned. unity now feels like an EA game in a way because it has 2 versions kinda like a delux and then the one with the season pass and all that crap.
     
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  29. Moonjump

    Moonjump

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    I'm going to be positive and believe Unity were trying to do the right things for their customers, but it must be obvious by now that many think they have not got it quite right.

    Offering a mid-tier is a good idea, but the thing most wanted is missing. Do Unity really think they get so much value from the splash screen being in Plus that they are willing to miss out on people paying for Plus?

    I think balancing the price for all customers is a good thing, but it is a big increase for some to swallow. I was expecting a change. I had hoped they would just absorb the mobile licences for a flat $75pm fee, at worst a double figure fee, not the triple figure they announced.

    Another issue is the long term pricing for those who chose perpetual for that very reason. My suggestion is a loyalty discount. 90% subscription fees in year 2, dropping 10% each year to say 60%.

    It is really nice to see the 1 month option for Plus, but it is a pity there is not a matching option in Pro. I can see issues with doing that, but 1 year minimum at that rate is a big commitment to contemplate. Maybe a 6 month minimum? (and carry that over to Plus for simplicity?)
     
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  30. Tanel

    Tanel

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    The idea of a mid level tier makes sense to me but not the way they've done it. All the different services are really cool and probably make sense for many companies but for 2-3 man teams they're kind of niceties(except for some people posting who really don't seem to see any value in them :S ) that are not must haves. Games have been shipped without things like this before and will in the future.

    In my mind, a tier like Pro is going to be (all platforms included) but without any of the services or base level versions of them would make sense as the Plus version ( + option to buy the services separately, which would combine to a larger sum than the Pro sub) with a price something like the base Pro license is now, 75$ a month or so.
     
  31. BIG-BUG

    BIG-BUG

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    That might be true in YOUR use case, however suddenly charging everyone extra for these addons, even those ones who never wanted them, is by far more unfair. I hope you understand all the ranting now.

    Therefore Unity has to stick with two different PRO versions:
    -Unity Full (includes mobile deployment) for $125
    -Unity Desktop (w/o IOS and Android deployment) for $75

    The only other option would be to generally reduce the Pro plan to $75 (at least for all current Pro users).

    Also for current perpetual licence holders a solution has to be found, as upgrading an existing licence came to just $25 per month per licence (with early bird rebate), so $75 would be still 3 times as much.
     
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2016
  32. Korindian

    Korindian

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    I like Unity and appreciate the efforts of the developers - it's enabled me to get into game development in an easy way. But the direction it seems to be going in is leaving me a little frustrated with the company.

    I paid $1500 for Unity 4 Pro perpetual and then $600 for the discounted upgrade to Unity 5 Pro (of which I'll be getting around 2 years value). However, with this new pricing, Unity will be losing a potential Pro customer as I'll have to use Personal once Unity 5 support ends.

    I develop for standalone (desktop). I wouldn't mind paying another $600 for a perpetual upgrade to Unity 6 Pro, but paying essentially 5x that cost ($3,000) for 2 years of Unity 6 Pro with the new subscription model? That's a little crazy. I'm happy for the mobile devs, but the pricing doesn't make financial sense for standalone platforms.

    I've made a huge investment in the Asset Store, primarily to learn from and to get editor extensions to flesh out the functionality of Unity. But there have been many times where I've wondered why I've had to pay extra (on top of Pro) for the functionality that other engines already have or should be built-in (shader editor, visual scripting, behavior trees and fsms, GPU particles, a better terrain system, UI tooltips, vector graphics importing, better inspector serialization support for properties/dictionaries etc.). Yes the Asset Store is a great resource, but many extensions are made by one person, and what happens when they stop supporting their asset when new versions of Unity are released, especially when those new versions break existing assets?

    Because of that investment of learning time and money so far, it doesn't make sense to switch to another engine for my current game, but I look longingly at the included features in other engines. My eyes wandered again to the other engines after the Unite keynote, where I hoped for some glimpses of the functionality mentioned above, but saw none.

    What I would like from Unity is to focus on the features that other engines have built-in which we've had to buy from the Asset Store. Since Unity gets a cut of those sales, one could argue that this means I've paid Unity on top of Pro to get those features that other engines get to develop with for free, even if only initially.

    Please win back my affection, Unity!
     
  33. Teila

    Teila

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    I am guessing that the majority here, if not everyone, does not begrudge the mobile developers their discount. That was a long time coming. But Unity should have kept a desktop only subscription between Personal and Full Platform Unity.

    Honestly, it is up to each person to fight for something that fits their needs. That is okay. I am sure that is what Unity wants to hear. You are happy. I am happy for you. I am also happy. But...I have a lot of friends here who are desktop only users. I don't want them to go away. I would miss them terribly and the impact on the community would be great. Some have already left for other reasons and I feel their loss.

    In my opinion, the desktop only Pro users and the perpetual license users are the ones who are upset, and rightfully so. They are the ones who have a stake in this. I do not think Unity will take away your discount for mobile Pro tools. I also do not think that it will take away the Unity Personal edition from me.

    So..therefore, we are really not in this fight other than to give our opinions, as we both did.
     
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  34. aliceingameland

    aliceingameland

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    Lo everyone! It's 2AM here in Amsterdam so I apologize for not being able to answer some of the questions that have backed up in the evening while we had our attention elsewhere. Sara was answering a lot of questions earlier in the thread so I do want to encourage you to please read through some of the earlier posts to see if your question had been answered previously. I realize it's a lot of new info to take in, so please bear with us while we work to get the details to you. We'll be back answering more as soon as we get a little sleep. And a big thank you to Hippo here for being such a great help.

    To answer the above, the revenue cap is calculated based on your previous year's earnings, so in your three examples here I believe you are correct (caveat: I'm sleepy so please let me double verify tomorrow and confirm). For the third example, in year 3, you would have the option to continue your Pro subscription if you want, but wouldn't be required to -- you could bump down to Plus or Personal.

    And to quickly touch on something else -- if you are an existing Pro license user, we will be contacting each of you directly starting in June with individual migration offers to help ease transition (see roadmap for when that might be based on what you currently have). And if you currently have a perpetual 5.x license, you'll still be able to keep this to use in perpetuity, same as always. It's just that we're reiterating the fact that new features/support will eventually end as we move forward with the engine. We won't be stopping support for 5.x in June if that's what you're worried about.

    OK i'm off to bed now. Please do keep discussing and we'll be sure to read it all. Thanks everyone!

    (@Paradoks Hello! I see your ping, and I'll get you an answer in the morning - hope that's fine!)
     
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  35. MarkSchramm

    MarkSchramm

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    Bought a perpetual license for Unity 4
    Bought a perpetual license for Unity 5
    Bought a perpetual license for Android

    So my perpetual Pro licenses will stop receiving updates after March 2017? How is that fair? I bought the license with the promise that I will get updates until Unity 6 comes out.
     
  36. aliceingameland

    aliceingameland

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    The March 2017 date has always been in the agreement for Unity 5 - 2 years of promised support from launch date.
     
  37. BIG-BUG

    BIG-BUG

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    That's true. Also I was impressed that 4.x still received (critical) updates for a far longer period of time. Hopefully that will be the case for U5 as well, even after support is officially dropped.
     
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  38. Kondor0

    Kondor0

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    One thing I don't understand: with every new version there have been investments to make the engine more AAA looking, with new lighting, PBR, etc. You obviously care about the desktop market or you would just invest in new tech for mobile games. If that's the case why your business model seem to imply that desktop is secondary and we just have to deal with it?
     
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  39. chingwa

    chingwa

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    @aliceingameland If in March 2017 Unity releases version 6, then I see it as totally fair that a perpetual license for Unity 5 purchased in March 2015 will no longer be supported with updates. However if in March 2017 Unity is still working within Unity 5.x (5.6? 5.7?) and suddenly I'm not able to get these updates on the Unity 5 license I purchased... while others who did not purchase a perpetual license do get access to these updates... then I would feel like a chump.

    The two year support window was, perhaps erroneously, predicated on the assumption that the life-cycle of Unity 5 would fit those two years.
     
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2016
    elias_t, Sharlatan, jcarpay and 2 others like this.
  40. knotFF

    knotFF

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2013
    Posts:
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    I totally agree with you. I am 3yrs invested in Unity, might not sound much, but that is 90% of my indie dev. history, and I did try CryEngine 1st, then Unreal, but Unity was sooooo much easier to pick up. It just sounded right.
    If Unity offers me $750 for a 2yr subscription I think I will take it, but $3000... not so sure, but then we need to balance it all, right? How much does my 3yrs cost? Can I port it to another platform? We are on the same boat!
    Also, F the splash screen and dark skin, I never bought the Pro license for that. I bought it because I wanted to see Unity develop. Today I am feeling like I was left behind in class and now I have to attend school in summer, it's not the greatest problem in the world, but somehow I feel annoyed by it all.
     
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  41. talos72

    talos72

    Joined:
    May 8, 2015
    Posts:
    3
    So the perpetual license is not perpetual. I signed up for mandatory 12 month $75 subscription for a perpetual license which will essentially expire next year.
     
    Shaolin-Dave likes this.
  42. quantumsheep

    quantumsheep

    Joined:
    Mar 9, 2013
    Posts:
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    Hey everyone, just my 2 cents:

    I’m a one man sheep, working on a game to be released soon (ish) and as a ‘free’ user, was dreading having the ‘personal edition’ splash screen at the start.

    I hear now that the wording will be changed and it will just be ‘Made with Unity’.

    I can live with that I think! Thanks, Unity! :)

    Ideally, of course, I’d like to have my own custom splash screen.

    While the combined pro licence is a better deal for me than before, it’s still out of my price range for essentially just changing the splash screen!

    The ‘Plus’ edition has nothing in it that I’d personally find useful. I would *love* to have my own splash screen as an option in the Plus price range though. A missed opportunity maybe?

    So I’m fine remaining a free user for now I think (and thanks for all you provide for free!). Removing the splash screen in the plus range would certainly entice me to sub up though.

    tl;dr - splashy splashy splash screen

    Cheers,

    QS =D
     
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  43. salgado18

    salgado18

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
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    The problem I think is that this argument can be extended to any single platform. Like, only a very small set of users build for VR, so it should be optional. Also, Windows Phone should go with the mobile builds, along with Blackberry and others. Consoles? Definitely their own license. And so on.

    Unity wants to unite development, not split it apart. Also, it only complicates more the licensing model for them, and for everyone ("can I make a game for Android with Unity Free and Android Pro" questions). So I understand their side, and it makes lots of sense.

    The problem is, then, that the price for desktop developers has gone up, not that the platforms have merged. These desktop developers should then ask for a better deal on the Plus license, as I believe it would fit the needs of many of them. Those who need more should understand that Unity needs to ask more for more services, and consider this a price increase.

    Perpetual license users will get a deal in the future, so I think it would be wise to hold on to judgement for now.

    What I'm really saying is that they are not offering good enough features on the Plus subscription to make people from the Free edition to upgrade, because they are afraid of the Pro users downgrading. If Plus is good enough, the jump from Free users should compensate for Pro users jumping down, but everyone will be happy, even desktop-only or mobile-only or casual-indies or small-studios.
     
    Dracones likes this.
  44. salgado18

    salgado18

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
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    The license is perpetual, it's yours to keep. Pro for life.
    Updates to the engine are not, and will never be, perpetual for any software. If you purchased a Windows XP license, you still can install it and activate normally, but there will be no more updates to it.

    Edit: if you bought Unity 2.x Pro, you still can install and activate it, and use all Pro features of it, even if it has had no updates for some years.
     
    mathiasj and orb like this.
  45. Prodigga

    Prodigga

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2011
    Posts:
    1,123
    Unity has invested so much in to their analytics, cloud build services, integrated version control, and other services. But these services dont apply to everyone.

    For those of us who don't need these products, it's like a constant slap in the face every time Unity attempts to justify the cost of Pro. Seriously, every time Unity replies to comments regarding how useless the Plus subscription is, they point out how you get "so much more" because of the services.

    When they made the free and pro versions of the engine the same feature set in Unity 5, they lost a huge incentive to get users to upgrade. So obviously they needed to make Pro more attractive somehow. Their answer was put together these extra services.

    I think the sad truth is that these services really can't carry unity on their own without being forced on us.

    Imagine if you had to subscribe to each service individually, and you could pick what you wanted. $20 p/m for splash screen removal, $30p/m for analytics, $30 p/m for cloud build..etc. and the cost of subscribing to all the services would cost the $125 p/m that unity is now asking for Pro. Sounds fair right? Pay only for what you use.

    But I reckon almost everyone would just settle with splash screen removal, and use alternatives for the rest of the services. (There is lots of free alternatives!). And I think that's the issue. These services aren't worth paying for on their own to a lot of users, but it is the only tool unity has left to monetize their engine so they bundle it all with Pro to justify the huge price for what is essentially splash screen removal.

    Just think about how much work they've actually put in to these services. That's a lot of development time. If you've used the Unity services you'll know that they are fairly polished and really nice to use. But this is development time that couldve gone in to engine features applicable for everyone. (Better terrain engine, nested prefabs, etc, whatever). But the awkward position that Unity finds themselves in now is that there isnt much of a monetary incentive to develop engine features. These features won't make them money. So their only option is to put together a bunch of "optional" products and use these to justify the price, even if people don't want or need them.

    Unity is in a pretty tough spot at the moment IMO. I'm not sure what the answer is but their current monetization strategy is leaving their users feeling robbed.

    Edit:

    Sorry for typos, I'm on my phone. :(
     
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2016
    chelnok, daville, blizzy and 12 others like this.
  46. Teila

    Teila

    Joined:
    Jan 13, 2013
    Posts:
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    I think the Desktop only Pro users can ask for whatever they think is fair to them. It would be in Unity's best interest to offer a $75 Desktop only Pro license rather than add to the Plus. I can't even imagine them adding everything the current Desktop users have for $35 a month. :)

    But I misunderstood you...I thought you said we should fight for everyone to be happy. ;)
     
  47. salgado18

    salgado18

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
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    Judging from the update cycle on 4.x, which received updates for a few months after 5.x launched, I call for version 6 by the end of this year. ;)
     
  48. J_P_

    J_P_

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2010
    Posts:
    1,027
    http://unity3d.com/migration-roadmap



    Am I reading this graph right? Only about 9-11% of users buy Unity through subscription right now (group 2 and 15)? So Unity is removing the payment model that the vast majority of users prefer.
     
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  49. angrypenguin

    angrypenguin

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2011
    Posts:
    15,614
    Hmm... I'm not quite sure what to think of this at the moment.

    For starters, it seems like a great move for people working on mobile games with subscriptions. It just got $25 or $100 a month cheaper. Win!

    For other people... not so much?
    • Long term perpetual license users no longer get upgrade pricing. That means a huge bump in pricing regardless of what platform(s) you were using.
    • Desktop focused developers (like myself) now have to pay more for a subscription where the new features are stuff we're not using.
    • No details on the "pay to own" option is really concerning. This is speculation, but it vaguely sounds like a subscription where you don't lose access at the end so, again, see the first point re: no upgrade pricing.
    I do see value in the $35/mo offering, though it's not compelling for me at the moment, based on the needs of current projects. (Though as others have said, for the price conscious you may be able to get many of the same features by using or integrating other existing tools.)

    Anyway, in short, for me the pricing announcement said "when you get Pro it will now be more expensive with no additional benefits" because, for my current projects (and I can't stress that enough) that's exactly the case. None of the additions are of benefit to me, but I'm going to have to pay for them anyway.

    Edit: I feel I should say that if Unity have identified that their core market is cross platform / mobile developers then focusing their models on that group is pretty reasonable. Right at this moment I'm not a part of that group, though.
     
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  50. salgado18

    salgado18

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
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    Well, everyone can ask whatever they want, can't they? :p #outofplacejoke

    But I don't think Unity will do this. If they merged everything instead of separating even more, they probably want to put everything together, a full no-cuts engine for all. That's why I think it's not a great deal to ask for a separate version.

    Also, current Pro desktop users have, on the engine side, everything the Free users plus no splash and dark skin. Everything else is delivered via services, now and in the future license. The Plus version would give them fewer services, but so many people here are complaining that they don't need them, and at the same time they want the splash screen removed if they pay for the engine. I think a Plus version without splash would give most current Pro users everything they need, and the few who don't would have to live with a price increase in the service.

    But I think the main problem here is that they are afraid that the Plus edition canibalizes the Pro users, causing many of them to downgrade if they remove the splash screen from Plus. It looks like, from the outside, that they are not confident enough in the value of their engine and services to justify people paying money for it. That is the root of the problem. I still wonder why did they gave all the features away with the Free, and still wanted money for the Pro, from a business perspective it made no sense.

    They should rethink their entire product line and develop licenses based on the value that people need, not what they think is valuable.

    Heck, I fight for everyone to be happy in politics. How's that for an idealist? :D
     
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