Hello!
In the old multiplayer solution, the unity master server was free to use. For everyone. That was pretty awesome. Will we have an option like this again or will we need to pay (when we use unity standard)?
Currently it seems like you’ll have to pay for every user. Is there an option for students or people who can’t afford that?
Greetings, TIm.
While it’s still in preview there’s no way to know, but based on what we do know and what Unity has said so far, we can speculate.
Right now, my understanding is that Unity Multiplayer can be used in preview with up to 100 users for free. That’s nowhere near good enough for a popular game, but to me it seems like it should be more than enough for testing or for a small game that was developed just to be played between a group of friends online (I’ve seen a few of these). I imagine the situation won’t change much when it comes out of preview. For testing purposes or for something you just created to entertain yourself and your friends, it’ll probably still be free. If you’re planning on making money with your game, just like with most other Unity multiplayer solutions, you’ll have to either pay for professional services or provide them yourself.
edit: No word on what the pricing will be, at least nothing I’ve heard, so I can’t speculate on that.
This brings me to the other part of your question, the master server. I haven’t heard anything one way or the other on whether or not the master server is compatible with UNet, or whether a compatible server will be released if it’s not. However, UNet does have a low-level API and if Unity doesn’t provide a compatible master server I’m sure some third-party will work something out.
That’s only if you are using their master-server. If you roll your own, or you’re using uNet in a configuration that doesn’t require a master-server, then it’s free with no CCU limit.
Okay. I for example want to add multiplayer support to a already existing game (modding). So, with the new networking solution I will need to host my own server for having a lobby where you can see all games or I would need to pay for more then 100 users, right?