Unity offers subscription

We are very excited to announce that Unity will be offering a subscription option until July 31st.

The pricing plans are as follows;

Unity Pro: $75/month

iOS Pro: $75/month
Android Pro: $75/month
Team License: $20/month

All licenses are for a 12 month commitment.

Quick Facts:

• Customers who wish to continue to subscribe after their commitment has ended may do so.

• It's only available until July 31st as we wish to evaluate popularity...we're new to this

• Any new or major versions of Unity released are included in the price plan.

• To subscribe to iOS and/or Android you must subscribe to a base Pro License.

• If you subscribe to Unity Pro, you can choose to add a subscription to iOS and/or Android and/or Team License at a later time.

• Perpetual and subscription licenses are still seperate, we will continue to sell perpetual licenses.

• If you already own a perpetual license, you are unable to subscribe to an add-on or team license.

• One subscription plan per Unity account.

Visit the store for more details and a real FAQ

P.S

I won't be available till Friday, hopefully any questions will get answered soon


https://store.unity3d.com/products/subscription

https://store.unity3d.com/products/subscription-faq

 

Interesting...

 

Awesome - You will have a subscriber as soon as I get my money from Ebay

 

I already own a Unity Pro licence

 

Interesting. I'm wondering how does a Unity Pro + mobile basic combination work? Do all the pro features get switched off when switching the platform to mobile or would we be able to use some of the pro stuff (like profiler for example)?

Or is that even possible, would we have to use a separate free license install for mobile basic stuff?

 

Interesting

Adobe have said that they're making all of their software subscription only with the "Creative Cloud". I own Creative Suite and usually upgrade every year, but I really, really hate the idea of subscription being the only way of buying the software. I won't be subscribing to Creative Suite and am looking round for alternatives.

However, for Unity, the only time I've ever needed Unity Professional was that I once needed it for a 2 month project and haven't used it professionally since. So in this case a subscription would have been great.

Bottom line. Having a subscription option could be really good but make it so subscription is the only way to buy the software and you'll have a large number of customers looking for the door.

 

Thats not a bad deal..

 

except you have to commit to 12 months with a Unity subscription.

That's $900, or almost two-thirds the cost of a perpetual license. Do we get a pro-rated offer on a perpetual license after our year is up?

 

Big questions:

If I subscribe today ONLY to the base Pro license, or perhaps Desktop+iOS Pro licenses, can I add an Android subscription after that window?

Is there any plans or talks about doing a big bundle discount like Adobe is doing with their latest CS cloud service? I can see a Desktop + iOS + Android + Blackberry + WinPhone8 + Win8 store license eventually getting way too costly ($450/month). Most people with such budget likely can already just buy licenses, most people without the budget that subscribe may lead to a collection nightmare and lots of damaged credit histories (got to keep in mind that Unity is used heavily by young developers that can make legal choices but still don't understand the draconian ways of the financial world.)

If I subscribe now, and in the future I decide I want to stop subscription and just give you the full cost of a Pro license (no discounts, just pay the full cost)... can I do so without penalties?

 

Good point, in which I would think the only people who would be interested in this are the "mathematically challenged" or those who have difficulty in borrowing money.

 

• If you already own a perpetual license, you are unable to subscribe to an add-on or team license.

Ergh. I would have been interested in the team license. All the other plans would be useless for me, even using it for 1 year would put me in the situation where if I renew for another year it would have cost me more(which is not good). Except if it was any less I can see it actually being cheaper than buying it outright...so eh.

Also, if you discontinue this plan can they keep renewing at that price or do you not let them renew?

 

Hmm I wouldn't mind this type of style if we could almost do it like a payment plan, It's nice for students in education who can't really afford a big lump sum of money however if it's just a subscription then it's just dead money which is not the best financial choice.

Suggestion:

12 month payment plan for full licence

 

Without the 12 month restriction in place, people will just pay $75 to deploy and see where that goes. I think its an interesting experiment though at that rate, I'd just buy it personally.

 

So you would have to be a subscriber for 20 months to go past the 1500 mark and even then the updates are included? So if unity went from 4 to 5 then subscribers automatically get version 5 with no upgrade cost? If so this is a very decent deal. I think the upgrade cost for unity is like 700 or 800 usd? I forget. So the subscribers could be getting a better deal still in that case is unity makes a major upgrade in a 20 month period.

If you plan to use pro for less than a year it may not be worth it.

in:b4 number crunchers

 

Same with iOS and Android, I feel there might be a decent number of Unity Pro owners who might want to dabble with mobile Pro and this could have been an alternative and viable option. Not sure why Unity can't enable this? Obviously they aren't also getting the Unity Pro sub, but since the dev has already bought Unity Pro I can't see that it would have mattered?

Though to be honest I don't see much appeal in subscription models, overall it doesn't look like this would provide any savings over purchasing (and why should it), so it only really helps out those who are unable to find the full funds in one go and instead spread the cost over 12 months.

Khyrid's point is interesting though, that for an on-going relationship subscriptions look like they might be better value. Though you never actually own Unity, meaning once you stop the sub you lose all access, which obviously you don't if you go the traditional full price + upgrades cost. This is the same problem with Adobe's offering, if they could factor in, even at some fixed added cost the ability to drop out of subs say after 20 months that you get to keep the current version i'd probably jump into the whole subscription business model.

What would have been more interesting is if the add-ons could have been subscribed to for say 3 month blocks at a time, perhaps requiring full payment up front. That would give developers the opportunity to try their hand at developing and releasing to those markets, without the large initial outlay normally required.

Sure it might be possible for a developer to abuse' the system, only paying Unity for 3 months usage, then releasing a game on Android/iOS and profiting, but eventually one would assume they would have to return to Unity to make updates or changes for iOS updates etc.


Regardless Its good to see Unity trying out new business ideas.

 

If you only need it for a year, it makes sense, would be much cheaper than buying the licenses at full up front cost only to use them for a couple projects and then abandon it.

If there is any chance they may upgrade next year to Unity 5, it also makes a LOT of sense.

If you running your development as a real business, you can deduct the expense from your taxes anyways.

Also, if you NEED all the 3 licenses, that's $4500 tossed into a credit card (you are unlikely to get a loan for this kind of stuff) and that can do horrors to your credit score. You also need some darn good credit history to get that big of a credit card limit.

The irony here is that the only reason *I* would (right now) go for this is so I can remove the Unity splash screen from iOS games. Its horrible looking (they seriously need to redesign that splash screen) and I really don't work on games that require any Pro features. its a bit bothersome still that I need to pay for desktop pro so I can then pay the same fee ONLY to remove the fugly splash screen.

 

There is always a chance for them to release unity 5 sometime next year, that alone may make this a better value.

 

I think, depending on the success of this "experiment", the option to buy may go the way of the paid photoshop upgrade.

 

Yep, it is.

Combined with spreading out the payment to a monthly basis yep. But if you have to purchase over multiple versions it will most certainly be cheaper in the long run(upgrades cost a lot less, basically the same amount you'd pay for the subscription in one year).

 

My guess is a temporary limitation of their validation servers. It may become an option in the future.

 

Then Unity MUST offering a means to 'buy-out' whatever the current version of Unity is at the time when you want to end your subscription. Obviously needs safe gaurds such as the option is only available after subscribing for X months (e.g. 20) so that Unity don't lose out financially and maybe the price of buy-out is dpeendant upon the release date of the last version, so the cost varies with the age, again to avoid the system being abused.

The problem with not offering such a deal, is that if i ever stop actively developing with Unity or even programming in general, I will still need/want a version around in order to provide support to existing clients for a period of a few years. Having to continue with a full price subscription in that case would be a bit of a kick in the teeth.

 

I notice also there is a month-to-month plain at $90/month which could be very useful for someone who wants to sign up just to deploy on a iOS pro for example or to use Pro features in their product ... but it isn't entirley clear whether you can get that 90/mo plan without having first completed a 12-month 75/mo plan first ... ie can you start off with the month-to-month or do you have to commit to at least 1 year first?

 

For comparison sake, Adobe CC complete is $50/mo for an annual plan, and the adobe master collection, when it was last available for a perpetual license (CS6) was $2599. That's a significantly better deal, speaking strictly monetarily.

 

Remember how upgrades to 4.0 were a lot higher when it came first out? They lowered due to the outcry in these forums. It's very likely with a subscription model in place they would not feel that much pressure, and they would be perfectly happy forcing you to either subscribe or upgrade at a higher than normal price.

And mind you, this assumes that 5.0 would even be available for sale, and that they don't pull an Adobe on it. And that adobe move was genious to be honest, but the biggest genious point of the Adobe bundle is they offered only two price options: single product or everything for a tad more. If Unity went ahead and offered something like this:


Pro: 75/mo
1 Mobile license: +75/mo
+All mobile licenses +100/mo


Well, they may get a lot of developers to sign into the All option even if they did not need it. As it stands I see developers only subscribing to the one mobile platform they care about (most likely iOS.) With the bundle, I would see more than half the developer base going for every mobile platform.

 

Only if you needed the complete collection and upgraded all of yearly. I don't remember the exact numbers now, but it may even still make sense if you only updated once every two years, however overall this approach and the lack of ability to 'own' a version at some time in the future are the two big turn offs with the subscription model to me.

 

What are you smoking? That would cost me $2700 per year for all three targets I currently release to. I struggle to make that per year on most games I release. It's a terrible deal, completely not tempting me. It would need to be $75 per month but you get all 3 pro licences for me to even consider it.

 

Didn't think of it like that. I guess we'll find out eventually.

 

I'm guessing the license key will expire if you don't keep paying. The upside to subscriptions is the initial outlay is low. The downside is that you have to pay forever. As an example, I purchased Unity Pro 2 years ago for $1500 (+ adds). I haven't upgraded to 4.x yet, so, if I had used this subscription then, I would be out $75*24 = $1800 (and counting). On the other hand, I'd have access to 4.x right now...

$75/mo is too much to be locked in forever. $50 is worth considering.

Gigi.

 

Same here! The only reason I have Pro is to remove the splash screen, I don't use any of the pro features so this is way too expensive just to get rid of the Splash screen.

Unity should have a separate cheap licence for us that just want to remove the Unity splash screen.

 

Different products. Photoshop CS5 used to cost $599, now you can get it (without contract) for what? $45 a month? Less than half the base price point, more than half the monthly fee. As far as single products monthly fee goes, I think Unity is a better deal than Adobe. Thing is: adobe offers an amazing deal for subscribing for the whole suit. Catch is: almost no one needs that whole suit. Most people care for it only for 1 or 2 applications in the entire thing (most often than not Photoshop + Premier or Photoshop + Illustrator.)

 

Much more compelling! I'd guess subscriptions is a way to capture the 3.x users that haven't upgraded to 4.x, which I'm not doing until the GUI is released.
Gigi

 

There really should be a month to month as well. I use adobes products with month to month, It costs slightly more but it means I only activate when I have a paying project.

If only Unity could make this "rent to own" as some others have also mentioned - they would be the best company in the entire universe

 

Great idea, but a 6 months minimum would have been way better for a small indie team. If your project will require 1+ years, if you are smart you go with the perpetual license. Or at least, they could make this rent to own.

Too bad.

 

Yeah but its all swings and roundabouts, presumably you paid $4500 for the three license, so clearly having it for just 12 months at $2700 is a far better deal, the problem being though after 12 months you have no Unity.

However I started crunching some numbers and I think Khyrid may be wrong in his assumptions earlier. Lets assume Unity has a 18 or 24 month development cycle between major versions. Thus the comparisons here are for two versions ( 4 + 5 ) and stopping at the release of version 6, spanning a total time of either 36 or 48 months.


Unity 4 Pro + mobile = $4500 + upgrades @ $750 x 3 = $2250, give a total of $6750
Unity 4 Pro + mobile = $4500 + upgrades @ $850 x 3 = $2550, give a total of $7050 ( I think $850 was the proposed upgrade from 3 to 4)


Subscription Model
For 18 month dev cycle across two versions that's 36 months total = $75*3*36 = $8,100
For 24 month dev cycle across two versions that's 48 months total = $75*3*36 = $10,800

So in both these cases subscription does come off worse, quite a bit actually. Things are far worse for those switching from already owning Unity 4 Pro going to subscription as they've already paid out $4500 and would then end up paying another $4050 until the release of Unity 6.

Have I made any obvious mistakes with my numbers?

Still usually spreading ones payments means you end up paying more, but normally thats due to interest on loans etc, here the extra is going direct to Unity. So you're probably still better off getting an interest free loan and buying Unity, assuming its possible to get one.

Having said all that I think if Unity can get he pricing model and subscription tie in time right they could snag some additional add-on subscriptions, from those who want to test the waters.

 

Yes, the only advantage of the subscription model is if you think you might just need the software for a short time. So having to subscribe for 12 months kills that straight away.

 

Also, what everyone has to be aware about is, that the license is deactivated, if you ditch the subscription.

With a Unity Pro purchase, you can use the license as long as you want to... even after the 20 months period (usually Unity releases a major version every 24 months I think). So, the subscription based license model would not really be beneficial...

 

This. And I rather buy a licence outright... I can still upgrade to Unity4 whenever I wish, but I am still waiting for the GUI and for Mecanim to fully mature...

 

This current pricing model is clearly an initial fishing trip. Making Adobe look like a bargain should be your first clue.

 

Doesn't make sense unless Unity is going to have yearly upgrades say for example every December, so December 2013 would be Unity 5.0 and adding the condition that when the monthly payment is reached that equal $1500 over the term for a license then the license is bought outright.

 

I think nobody will choose this subscription.
Just 600 difference.But u just rent the product, after subsription u get nothing.

 

Definitely not worth it! I just purchased the upgrade to Android 4 Pro and doing the math it works out thousands cheaper than the subscription model.

 

I'm trying to think how Unity is trying to shape the industry and the developers. Trying to think where they want to push us.

It seems that they want their developers to jump into publishing for FREE, on even grounds, talent vs talent, no privileges for the rich. Make cool games and publish in multiple platforms. And if and when you start making money through your games, they are offering your financial help to jump to Pro version. Or if you have money you can buy the perpetual one.

In my eyes, this is a clear road map they want us to follow. That's cool.

 

I'm curious what happens when your subscription expires. Does your game suddenly stop using Pro features? Do you stop getting access to the asset store? Do you keep the current version, but can't get new versions? These are some seriously critical questions that need answered... based off the FAQ it just expires as it's checked every month.. that's a horrible idea. Suddenly cutting a game off from Pro features after say 12 months of using Pro features could open it up to a worlds worth of problems. Subscriptions for software is just a horrible idea in general TBH. Anyway, they're still going to sell licenses as stated in the forum post, article, and FAQ so it's all good as I'll just continue to buy licenses.

 

It's nice that Unity tries new ways to allow us to make the step to Pro. But for me it's a no-go. I want Pro very, very much but a 12 month commitment is a big thing. The only way I would subscribe is either if the months become fewer (without a drastic increase in price per month) and/or if I can use the money I paid for the subscription to upgrade to the traditional Pro license. At the moment it's not very attractive, essentially you become a slave to the subscription plan with no hope to free yourself from it by going perpetual without taking a bigger loss than buying it outright.

 

It's not the game that get's cut off the Pro features. It's the Unity Editor...

 

Published games are published too, so you don't need to worry about that.

 

I like the idea of the rent-to-own also, a kind of payment plan ... but also the month-to-month, or at least perhaps a 3-month minimum instead of 12, or buy in blocks of 3 months?

 

I am giving this a lot of though. I think I may actually subscribe for the Desktop Pro option only, let the Unity splash screen in mobile be damned. There are a few Pro features like the profiler that may be very useful at developing a strong mobile game...

In fact... what features DO Mobile Pro licenses grant me that I don't get by doing Desktop Pro + Mobile Free, other than splash screen change? The licenses compare screen does not seem to be accurate, things like the profiler are listed to be Pro only, but I know for a fact it just works once you get Desktop Pro.

So... why would I bother licensing the mobile pros?

On a side note: Why I think the Desktop Pro license on its' own is not a waste? It's just a lower gamble. I spent 3k in Unity 3.x and I did not make that money back. I didn't use it for a year either, and not just because of 4.0s launch, but I did lose a lot of faith in doing something that would make me money.

I am considering giving one second (and final) gamble at it. If I make money, great! If I don't: that's it, I wont be messing with Unity anymore. So, even if I was to spend the full year of Desktop Pro, we talking about 900 bucks.

Sure, upgrading my 3.x to 4.x is cheaper than that in the long run, but I don't want to toss another 1k into a credit card and don't just happen to have that hanging around in between my couch's cushions.

But yea, for sustained: 75 is too expensive. 75 per item is absurd. The base should be slightly lower (not much) and there should be an "all plugins" bundle pricing.

 

The rent to own thing, doesn't make sense, just buy Unity with a credit card and you can have rent to own now (for a reasonable interest rate). I think this subscription is for people with development cycles under a year. Like people who are good with unity and plan to push a mobile game real fast. They can pay 900 (affordably in installments) over a year while they develop their game, maybe make money off it and buy unity permanently then because they have hundreds of thousands of bit coins. I'm tired.

 

Also while a plan like this could be a boon in less affluent parts of the world I wouldn't do a 'finance' plan such that a subscriber pays substantionally more than those than can buy a license upfront.