Unity Pro gets free for console development

Hi. Just seen this post:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=european-daily


So...if I become a PS4 developper I could get Unity Pro for free. Does this means I could also make it with Pro for PC ?

The deal with Unity doesn't seem right for the market. This is the Sonny plan to bring more exclusivities on the market, and Microsoft is also prepared to do the same stuff.

Why UT gives Unity Pro for free for PS devs ?

Valve save us !!! Hope they make a similar deal.

The PS deal seems a big loss for indie devs in general, because the market will be exclusive.


Hope someone in staff clarifies...

 

Hmm what do you mean? Unity pro has been free for Xbox devs for long time I think and it will be the same now for PS probably sponsored by Sony just like Xbox was by MS. There is no mention of being forced to be exclusive. You can't build to PC with them as they are special build of Unity (or were at least some point).

http://blogs.unity3d.com/2014/09/17/great-news-for-playstation-developers/

 

Because console developers most likely fall into the category of large studios, hence Unity places more importance to the big guys than the indies. They've catered more to them than the indies for a while now (ever since their large influx of investors).

They should do the reverse. Give free Pro to indies and charge lots more to the big studios. Because the big corporations that can afford it dont need to get it for free while the lone indie pays top dollar.

I believe its the standard Pro version and not a stripped down version.

 

At least for PS4 it was some custom build out of 4.3 not so long ago but maybe its all been merged in to same not. Maybe someone knows? I think it was asked in the Unite sessions or somewhere that when PS4 will get 4.5 version.

 

While I agree, I would imagine it would not be a good business model for Unity to do that because large studios that have the money can either build their own custom engine in-house or afford a better game engine.

 

How much is a PS4 devkit?

 

I think it's a stripped down version of the Pro with only the build feature to deploy to the respective console available. Otherwise, it wouldn't really make sense.

 

What the f*ck?

I don't really know something else to say to this.

 

Why? Isn't the new blog post a good thing.

 

I certainly think so.

If you're planning to make a game for console it makes Unity even more attractive than it previously was. Sure, engine licensing is only a small part of the costs of making a game, but at the very least this means we can re-allocate whatever that cost would have been (note that it wasn't one of the $1500 platform licenses, so who knows how much it was) to making a better game. Win.

If you're not planning to make a game for console and/or can't for whatever reason, then I don't see how this makes any difference either way.

As to "why?", I expect it's because Sony have paid Unity for it to happen. It makes sense in a lot of ways. Console vendors do a lot of in-house work to provide tools, support, etc. for their developers. This essentially outsources some of that, while also providing a familiar and quality set of off-the-shelf tools... so it could cut support time, increase quality, increase the availability of games, and generally make it easier for developers to access the platform.

 

PS4 development requires a dev kit. Start saving up.

 

I cant imagine that they are just giving dev licenses away for PS. If Sony wants to use it as an incentive to get you to get involved in PS development, and are footing the bill, whats the problem? Unity isn't giving it to you for free, Sony is subsidizing it into their plan.

 

Do you mean unity licenses? In any case, I think it's a clever move of Unity and means pro is pretty much only a requirement for desktop.

Xbox one has a hidden cost: you must publish via their studio. PS4 has a hidden cost: you must pay for a development kit.

These aren't really hidden costs though, just something has to pay for something. Paying 1500 or whatever figure less, is a nice and helpful touch though.

 

Maybe Sony gives UT a share of the devkit costs in exchange for Unity being free for licensed PS developers or something like that? I don't suppose UT is just doing this because they are such awesome guys.

 

Doesn't matter. End user wins. Why would it matter.

 

Unity Pro is not really free. Sony is most likely paying for Unity Pro, and Unity Pro is simply included in the cost of the Sony dev kit. At most, Unity is giving Sony a volume discount. I highly doubt Unity is giving Unity Pro licenses to Sony for free.

 

If PS3 devs would really get Unity Pro for free just because UT is such a bunch of nice guys, I as a PC dev would feel a little bit left out. There's got to be something in it for them.

 

Officially a dev kit costs 2500$ but Sonny are giving them for free.

 

Just to be clear, the license you get is Unity for Playstation, which is Pro but you can only deploy for Playstation.

 

@Aurore Oh, and how does one tackle a Multiplatform-Release on consoles like for XONE, PS4 and WiiU. Do we need to have three seperate Unity Builds, one for each console-deployment?

 

You need to be registered developer with each platform and have dev kits, you also get free Unity Pro for those specific platforms . As I understand it, if you were in Microsofts, Nintendo's & Sony's developer programs, you'll essentially have 3 versions of Unity Pro specific for those platforms and deployment.

 

Thanks for the clarification. That's kind of a letdown, not exactly the expected "Unity"-Way. Wished it was as easy as switching the Target Platform in the Build Settings.

 

Yeah, I could be mistaken but I'm pretty sure.

The thing is these licenses for these programs are provided by the respective platforms which I think has something to do with it.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have that than plenty of other methods of making a game portable, but when we click Build Settings we get a list that has Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS Vita and PS4 all included in the list and just greyed out... are you saying that those buttons won't ever be activated, and instead we get completely distinct installs of Unity?

That kind of sounds like the early days of Unity iPhone. Which is of course still way better than plenty of other ways it could be, it's nowhere near as nice as the level of switchability we currently have elsewhere.

 

I think it won't. Those are seperate unity builds from each vendor, well at least for microsoft I can vouch it IS seperate. The console platforms u r seeing on list of buildsettings are just delusion. Check unity's data folder, playback engines of them are not there. I have seen people doing console build from "other" engine and I can say, even if you got hand of them, they are pretty useless. That Build should only work on the devkit, you are given or a range of allowed machines. Development build will not work on retail machine, unless of course u r clever enough to bypass the whole architecture's security. Essentially then u r gonna have tough time with their legal dept and algo gonna handle press-fellow indies, end of ur carieer too;nt mentioning the shear toughness of deciphering modern crypto. Remember geohot? However, what is the point of all of these anyway?

And when people say "free engine build for console platform", I chuckle. Well honey, what about hidden cost of devkit? Assuming they r gonna give u that free, u have to be registered. Its not like, applying for nvidia. To be registered, u have to have some kinda convincing quality, other factors which costs surely. Pretty much sure, that is way more than 1500.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't expect the playback engines to be included in a normal deploy of, and of course you still need a dev kit either way. But given the buttons and the playback engines folder I'd have thought that we'd be able to 'install' a new playback engine etc. and then deploy to that platform.