What on earth would someone intend to do with a 3D model used by others?
My guess it depends on the model. What if you just want a larger variety of background/extras for your game?
And in alot of cases, what are the odds that someone will play to small indie games that happen to have the same models?
Modify / learn and use of course. Textures alone can be worth it some times and as I see CGTextures and Quixel in AAA games, it’s not like re-using textures is frowned upon.
Prototyping. Plus not everyone can afford or justify the cost of exclusive models.
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- For prototyping
- If you do not intend to sell a game
- Sell a game and have no budget for an own artist
- Sucks at modelling/texturing him/herself
- Wants to save time
- One has not the expensive tools oneself
- Because one likes a certain asset
- To learn how it has been done
- … and about 431 other reasons
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Or for that matter be able to recognize them at a glance.
I can understand the purchase if it’s a real world object, like a specific tree of gun etc. I just don’t get how anyone would drop money on a unique model that’s available for all, like a character etc.
Probably for the same reason that EA continues to successfully sell their sports games despite only having minor incremental changes. Gamers don’t seem to care.
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I would only buy a model I intended to use in a game… Ive brought a bunch of various models in fact that will end up in games at some point. Didnt buy them from the asset store but that’s not relevant.
Yeah I mean god forbid that Kevin Spacey would dare be in anything else except his first film.
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I’ve got better things to do than model rocks, like anyone can tell once you re-size and shove them in other rocks anyway 
…
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Think about redoing skins and you would never know what model it was in the first place.
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OOooo I’m sure I’ve seen mount Everest in another film. Can’t use it again!
http://www.totalfilm.com/features/30-reused-movie-props/handheld-m134-minigun
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/13962/50-assets-hollywood-re-used
So yeah, films reuse props non stop, all the time. They reuse actors, everything. It’s cheaper and nobody notices or cares except a minority of geeks. Also, nobody minds. As games get progressively more detailed and difficult to make, reusing assets becomes a priority.
The only thing that matters is they match… mis-matching assets can look a bit unprofessional if they all have different texture styles, topology, etc.
I bought a lot of models from the Asset Store for my current project. I don’t care if people recognize them or think I’m cheap because… well, I’m cheap but I won’t let that stop me from making a game that people might enjoy.
I just refuse to be sitting on my ass expecting that some good artist(s) comes to my rescue or that some funding falls from the sky and I don’t like programmer art so there’s that.
We can all discuss if that’s unprofessional or not but at the end what matters is if I get my project done or not.
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i buy models and stuff in the asset store all the time…
non commercial use
good for hobbiest playing around, have to do something with ones free time and money…
its either that or going to the bar and drinking until i puke this at least good for the liver, if not the wallet 
also the stuff not that bad and lots of it very affordable
and with it you can create fun little games to play with…
I’ve used assets from the asset store in a bunch of commercial projects, nobody cared. Personally I buy stuff all the time, when you’re pitching a project to a potential client, the difference in their reaction between showing them cubes or something from say, Michael O, is massive. You then explain it’s x thousand for custom characters or x hundred to tweak something off a stock site.
Worked on a $350k project that used $7k in stock assets earlier this year.
I’ve recognized quite a few Unity assets in indie games I’ve played, and I’m sure there have been others that I didn’t recognize. I wouldn’t necessarily use a main character from the asset store, but I’ve used barrels and trees and crates and rocks.
You should search for “Unity” on Google play and see the mountain of games out there featuring the “Unity Chan” model that have moderate success.
Good example with the actors. Though in earlier times of the asset store, when models were sparse, it happened a lot that you thought: “oh it’s that model again…” - but now with the asset store growing larger every day less people will recognize when you use the same assets, or you reskin/retexture them to fit your game. Of course that also requires more asset store crawling time.