Unity Perpetual License

I have a plan to buy perpetual license, but I am a bit confuse after reading this.

https://store.unity3d.com/subscribe

Does it means next year unity won't sell perpetual license anymore and only sell subscription license?
If so, I am not sure to buy now because when next version of unity released, I can't upgrade my perpetual license.

Or it means only for version 5.x support that will be stopped next year?

Sorry for this dumb question, maybe my reading comprehension is awful....

 

I'd also love some clarification on that. I've seen people post about it in the past and I thought it was something added to the EULA, but I was wrong about that.

So I'd also love to know what the plans for the perpetual license are.

 

I've seen this raised before and thought it was something in the EULA, but was wrong about that.

With that in mind, I'd also love to know what the plans for the perpetual license are.

@Graham Dunnett, any chance you can shed some light on this?

 

glad i am not the only one who need clarification, thanks for mentioning the right person to ask

 

Feel like i've seen such a thread before and the answer was that support for 5.x ends in 2017 and you'd need a new license for unity 6 then.
You could then keep using unity 5 pro, but it won't receive any more updates.

 

This is also what I heard. Unfortunately the website is very badly worded on this, it would be nice to get the wording fixed, rather then rely on forum posts from unity staff.

 

I see, thanks for the answer.

Maybe the wording should be fixed like this?

Current wording looks like the perpetual licensing itself will be stopped next year.

 

Exactly, it doesn't mention 5.x specifically.
I understand some officials mentioned otherwise in a separate thread.
Nevertheless, I feel this hasn't been clarified enough.

 

This is like the 3rd or 4th thread about the subject and it seems they can't get the text fixed or there is nothing to fix as in it's actually end of it (regardless what has been quoted in other threads). After Level 11 subscribing never happening etc. it could be that they don't know it either. I've seen people tweet about this and I think I remember seeing someone blogging about the end of perpetual license as a "fact" too few weeks ago when it was suggested entry at some gamedev site.

 

Before 2017 you have time to develop your game and see what happens. No need to pressure.

 

Well the "main" thread listed multiple issues why people are worried about this. In business you have to plan ahead and not go with the flow.

 

Anyway if you started your game with Unity 5 , than you will be able to finish it with Unity 5.

 

Not true at all. A game can easily have multiple years in development, and then a multiple year expected life beyond release that is likely to need regular updates over that time.

Unity just did an update to Unity 4 to maintain it's life for a little while longer. Games starting now could well require Unity 6 or even 7 during their lifespan if Unity follows the same update path they have in the past.

Plus there is the fact that a perpetual licence is a long term investment, it isn't just for one game.

 

This is never good when your game needs more than two or three years to be done, and because after five years your game will look outdated. Or you are alone making your game.

 

Unity has tradition of offering discounted preorder licence a year before new release. Such offer should appear for a week or two in a shop. If its not - we would know that perpetual licence is no more. Simple

 

Eh, it's not that simple and like I said there were several issues in the other thread. It's a big change if you are starting new projects now and instead of paying small upgrade next year you suddenly have no other choice than subscription which will increase the costs 200-500% depending of the licenses.

That's really poor comment as development takes time and does not start the same time when first major release is out. It's also good example why people are worried about the license if they will be "stuck" with U5 if they originally were prepared for normal "upgrade". No matter how long the development takes there is a need to support projects after they are released, sometimes even for several years. On mobile the need is even more important as new features and changes come out often.

 

Why would you need Unity 6 features ? If you are making the game with Unity 5 this is not while waiting for later features, but this is because Unity 5 features are ok for your game.

 

More platforms? more features? Proper lightmapping? faster development workflow? we don't know yet what there even is and the main point was that there are probably always good reasons to upgrade, at least when time money. You also gave one example with the outdated graphics example. It has not been problem to upgrade perpetual but with subscription it's a different story as it's a bigger change.

 

OS compatibility. App updates have to work with new versions of the OS, something not possible if the old version of Unity is no longer being updated.

 

This is already covered in another thread, the licensing hasn't changed. This

Refers to existing Unity 5 if you bought it now.
Nothing will change. You will still be able to upgrade and use perpetual.

 

Nothing said by a Unity employee in that thread actually confirmed that perpetual licences will continue beyond Unity 5. It only confirmed that support ending for a large version is normal, and that hasn't changed.

 

OK, feel free to email unity support for an official answer.

 

This means in March 2017, Unity 6 will be released

 

Support for Unity 4 only ended a few months ago, despite Unity 5 being out for quite a while. This has been the pattern on previous occasions also. Unity 6 will probably be launched long before Unity 5 support ends.

 

The meaning is just that in a year time you have to commit to a monthly payment on a 12 months contract or you are no longer on Pro. A very bad decision in my opinion. Other AAA engines are way cheaper and now that Lumberyard got out with zero license strings attached beside AWS to me simply means that I'll stick to Unity just 1 more year.