Pro Edition to Free Edition?

News & General Discussion
1

I was wondering if I could use the Free Edition, then get the Pro Edition and eventually go back to the Free edition? (We don’t want to end up with a yearly cost or fee that we may get locked into with no way of ever paying and then we don’t want to get it to lose funds down the line and still be stuck paying.)

My friends and I want to work on a game but we’re wondering about the best course of action for doing this.
I’m a worst-case scenario planner and there are some questions I have that end up being my hookup on learning unity.

I have some “hypothetical” questions to run through. If you could answer them as clearly and cohesively as possible it would really help me feel at ease.

Hypothetical situation 1.

My friends and I make the assets and I build the game by myself using the personal edition. We sell the game and make over $100,000! Do we have to then buy a Pro Subscription and if so how long does it have to be?

Hypothetical situation 2

If we reach $100,000 in sales, and we register what we’re doing as an LLC. Do we then have to get a pro license indefinitely? Are businesses required to have a Pro license indefinitely? or can we continue to use the personal addition?

Hypotechtical situation 3

If we make over $100,000 after which we start making $10,000 etc… and our sales gradually decrease to under $100,000 over a 12-month period. Can we switch back to a non-subscription-based service? Because we don’t plan on making games non-stop.

We’d rather not end up in crippling debt or bankruptcy due to a contractual obligation to your company for the software we choose to use. (The same question is repeated if we become an LLC business.)

I’m autistic and my friends and I want to make a game, but when weighing the options I like to have all information clearly presented for me to make informed decisions and I become uneasy when faced with situations where I don’t have the answers, I need.

I want to create a company long-term with my friends but I also fear continued upkeep in cost that we cannot afford to pay that ultimately leads to us filing bankruptcy and subsequently ruining our dream.

2

The revenue threshold on Pro is not $100K its $200K

You can use Personal as long as your annual revenue from Unity doesnt exceed $100K
If there’s a point at which it exceeds $100K but is below $200K you should subscribe to Plus, one license per user at $399 per annum
If it exceeds $200K you should subscribe to Pro, one license per user at $1800 per annum

No, its not an indefinite lock-in, if you wish to keep using Unity, you would move up and down license tiers appropriately.

But if you are running a business that had been making $200K per year, and your revenue has subsequently sunk to the point where you cannot afford $399 a year per employee for Unity, other things like wages, taxes and utility bills are likely to ‘lead you to bankruptcy’ well before the Unity license cost.

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3

Okay, so it’s not a lock-in. Sorry, I suck at summarizing my question.
So I could switch basically from any edition back to free / personal addition then is what I was most worried or concerned with, I always thought it was an indefinite subscription which was my biggest concern.

So if my game does make 100K but then it drops to like 10k, lower, etc… I can just go back to free?

4

Specifically the development tools. If you release a game with Unity but never use the editor again you don’t have to upgrade to the higher tier when your game makes you that money.

5

You start with Personal, you don’t need to pay anything.
If you all remain private and do not make any companies:

  • if you make less than $100k out of your Unity-related businesses (games, assets, etc), then you can keep Personal (but the splash screen remains too)
  • if you decide to remove splash OR your income exceeds $100k but under $200k (out of Unity-related stuff), then you buy Plus license for everyone who is using the editor, you need to do this until the last 12 month your income exceeds the $100k
  • if your income exceeds $200k, you need a Pro license for everyone who uses the editor, you need to do this until your last 12 months of income exceeds the $200k
  • if your last 12 months income sinks below the limit, you can step down (if you run out of license, you better off buying license annually, it’s simpler)
  • you do not need license if you do not use the editor
  • you do not need license for those who do not use the editor

If you’re forming a business your entire income at the company counts (even if you wash cars or something):

  • above $100k annually, Plus license for everyone who uses the editor
  • above $200k annually, Pro license for everyone who uses the editor
  • if your annual income sinks below the threshold, you can step down to lower license
  • if you don’t build your game after release and you don’t make another one, so you don’t use Unity at all in any capacity, you don’t need a license (although you need to buy one as soon as you want to release an update or re-release it using the editor)

If you still have questions, contact support they can give you official information and more explanation:
https://support.unity.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=65905

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