Unity discounted subscription pricing $40 - if you previously own a perpetual license

I went to the Unity store to look at the subscription pricing, as I need to get iOS pro to get a build of my game ready for a possible publishing deal.. and voila..

It turns out, since I previously owned a Unity perpetual license, I have a chance to get the subscription at a discounted price!
$40 per platform is the discounted price. Not bad at all. So I went ahead and subscribed to Pro, iOS Pro, and Android Pro.

Not sure why nobody announced this, but $120 per month for all 3 platforms is certainly a lot more cost effective than $225 per month.

Anyway, enjoy

EDIT : I honestly forgot it was April 1 lol. This is no joke. Here is a screenshot from my subscription page.

 

Sweet. Is that for the first year only, or is it a permanent price?

 

OMG, AMAZING. Today is 1st April

 

I don't think it's a joke. You will have to check yourselves to make sure if it's a year or longer.

 

For the first year only, then it reverts to a month to month at $75 per platform.

This discounted price is only on offer once. i.e if you buy only pro, you lose your discounted offer on the rest of the platforms. So Android and iOS will cost $75 each if you add them at a later stage.

So to get the most out of this, buy all the platforms you need up front to get the discount on all of them.

Lol, forgot about that.. I edited my original post with a screenshot.

 

Awesome, count me in, finally a compelling reason to get Android license

 

i remember seeing that price after launch, seems to be here also:
https://store.unity3d.com/products/subscription_offer
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/23...ck-paying-75?p=1563944&viewfull=1#post1563944

 

Nice april fools joke from UT. I don't fall for it (let alone pricing, see below).. (even if there is a page made for it.. that doesn't mean it is actually true, e.g. what about NEW subscribers users? no discount there (which is illogic from a business point).. )

And if it is true.. (which i strongly doubt), 120 USD/m (PRO,IOS,Android) and that for minimum of 12 months = 120x12= 1440USD/y is still too steap (And only helps 60USD for the first year, but is excl. tax!) , considering the complaints the past week or so on these forums.

 

Reasonable change, makes it less absurd to change to subscription from perpetual. But not a great deal in any way.

 

More evidence if any was needed that Unity is reactive to current events vis a vis the competition.

While drooling at what the competition is currently offering, it is important to remember that it was Unity that FIRST targeted the indies and made them part of the equation in their plans. The competition of course has recently thought it fit to remember the indies but previous to that their commitment was to big game studios.

So, how long will the competition remain committed to indies? Only time will tell. Unity on the other hand has a proven track record in this matter. Sure their pricing structure perhaps needs changes and the above shows that their marketing staff is constantly working on it

 

btw. i'm almost sure that this offer price was published before cry/ue4 announcements (but cant remember where i first saw it..)

its had been mentioned here too
http://unity3d.com/unity/faq#section-1843

 

I stand corrected on that but the rest of my point still stands.

So, UE4/CryEngine have for now become Indie friendly, but how long will the friendship last?
Till some wise guys in the upper managements of the respective companies look at the investment/returns on this friendship and say "Hey the returns on this are just not attractive enough" and shut down/phase out the whole thing.

 

Then I got a new serial and $120 charge off my credit card as an April fools joke. Sounds like a good deal.

 

Yeah this is not new, I had this offer on the first day... but I think it wipes out your perpetual upgrade discount, so I thought If I pay $120 per month for the first year I may only end up essentially just re-paying for Unity 4.0, then when 5 does come out I will be back to paying full price for it.

 

Oh ok that's good, it must just be the way I read it.... but still, I already own Unity 4.0 if I subscribe now even with the discount I am just paying for 4.0 again until 5 comes out? Unless I don't have to start paying until 5 comes out?

 

Well seen as it's been around for about a fair while, I doubt it's a joke. I mentioned it to HC a couple of weeks ago!.

 

It's not new - was announced right up front. The limitations are: 1) only applies for 12 months, before reverting to $75 per mo per product; 2) only applies if you already owned a perpetual license; 3) may only apply for 4.x subscribers (not certain); 4) subscribe to iOS Android when you start your subscription - signing up later reverts to the original $75/mo.

For first year, it's ($40+$40+$40) * 12 = $1,440, then for next 12 months, it'll be another ($75+$75+$75) * 12 = $2,700. Historically, that's approximately when 6.x will be released, and the cycle will start over. Or, I can upgrade from 3.x for $750+$750+$750 = $2,250.

Two-Year Cost of Ownership (existing license):
* Discounted Subscription = $4,140
* Upgrade from 3.x to 5.x = $2,250
* Upgrade from 4.x to 5.x = $1,800

Two-Year Cost of Ownership (NO prior purchase):
* Subscription = $5,400
* Purchase 5.x = $4,500

The plan is like a car loan - low down payment and moderate monthly payments that result in a significant net loss. It's not for me.

Gigi

 

$120 a month is a good deal if you actually need the features in Unity Pro Add-Ons, although it's still expensive enough to rule out consideration for all those that aren't big business or actually supporting their business through published titles using Unity or contracting work using Unity.

 

This applies to 3.x perpetual license owners too.

 

Also, consider this... you have to pay in perpetuity, as long as you want to use Unity Pro. So after a year or so, you'll end up paying over $1500 on monthly fees, and you still don't even own the Unity license. It's a nice idea perhaps for some, but not a sound investment for a serious game developer (IMHO).

 

Is buying a perpetual license in an ever-changing fast paced industry a 'sound' investment?

Once you've invested in a perpetual Unity Pro license, 2 years later it's obsolete, and the software is not even maintained, and if you run into an issue, guess what, it will be fixed in the next release, not patched to your old out dated version of the software. I wouldn't call that a good investment.

The subscription model makes the most sense.. and is a big reason why UT, Epic and CryEngine and Adobe have all gone this route.

 

Adobe's reason was that users were skipping entire product revisions, so users of 6 would skip 7, 8, etc - and the sub just ended up making everyone happier. I believe it's been so successful they've dropped the sub price now to £8.78 - or around 10 dollars a month for PS.

 

Actually, if you're throwing the word "serious" in there, it's likely to be a non-consideration for a serious business. Plenty of games businesses don't last longer than a single project, so why pay extra to "own" something when that's irrelevant? It means less required startup capital and a bunch of other benefits. Businesses also don't consider the emotional attachment of "owning" something as intangible as a software license, so they're going to weigh up the financials (over time, as part of business and cash flow modelling) and risk profiles and make an objective decision about the best option. And if at the end of the sub the business is going strong then flipping to perpetuals is easy, and it was a relatively cheap and low risk viability study.

Remember also that for a startup business a $10,000 loan for software for two people is going to cost more than $10,000. For starters there's the interest and fees, but there's also the opportunity cost of what else you could do with that available funding if you don't have to spend it on software. Judging the value of a subscription vs. a perpetual license is not trivial arithmetic.

 

In Australia at least software purchases over $300 can be deprecated as "plant equipment" at a rate of 40% in the third and fourth year, and 20% in the following year. You can also depreciate any expenditure on developing the product (for example writing an editor extension) using the five year rule. These rules don't apply under a subscription (although there are other rules that might).

So yes, it can be complex to work out the actual cost.

 

I think these affordable subscription models have also seriously reduced the amount of piracy.
I know more than a few people who were running dodgy versions of Photoshop but are now happily paying the subscription price due to it's affordability and cash flow friendliness.

 

I have still my Adobe PS 4 CD that I lost that 15 lb manual with the serial number in it and they won't issue a replacement so although I'd rather use PS 4 I must use Gimp 2.8 instead. I have Fireworks from Macromedia MX 2005 but it is clunky.

 

Cmon, its now $9.99 for a Photoshop subscription, and you don't have to use Gimp.
Sounds like a good deal.

 

Yes, but please they won't even given my a replacement license to PS4 that I bought in Fall '97?! Who's going to lie about that - and it really is enough for me.

Anyway, I may subscribe for a few months because I need to make elementary school 'Reading Primer' flashcards or buy them from a commercial photo/clipart site :-(

I don't know PS could now be subscripted for $10 a month.

 

Can you unsubscribe it anytime and still can use it?
it's USD$9.99 per month = 1year USD$119.8
I'm 16, i don't have a job and i need to buy books, college fees....

I can't pay that much... DAMN!
It was better to purchase photoshop one time than subscribing...

 

The photoshop subscription requires a 1 year commitment.

 

Even so, $10/mo is VERY affordable. If I were an artist (and not a coder), it'd be a no-brainer. Unity's $225/mo is much heftier.
Gigi

 

College at sixteen - so sad. At 16 you should be skipping class and having fun.