Hey all!
I have found myself asking this over and over again in my head. So, Why is unity so expensive?
Please give me the long version… If possible.
Also as a side note - Because of unity’s current price/upgrade policy I have found that I am not using unity for anything game related. I am mostly using open source stuff. Because well - Cheaper 
Compared to what? All game engines are expensive in one way or another, now there’s a $75 a month subscription I don’t think it’s expensive at all…
You believe Unity is expensive compared to what?
@ShadowK -
It isn’t.
For starters, have you noticed the extremely permissive free licenses?
Secondly, the professional level licenses are pretty affordable. Compared to other industry level game development software (Max, Maya, Photoshop, etc.) it’s pretty much on-par. Compared to licensing for other engines it’s often pretty cheap. I remember a couple of years ago looking at pricing for Unreal and it being in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per project ballpark.
Correct me if I am wrong…
but that is for 12 months 75*12 = 900 USD. That is money that I could be spending on a standalone Pro license. 
Just a few hundred shy.
It is. But that standalone license costs that few hundred more and, also, you have the choice of either not using it until you’ve saved up the whole purchase price, or taking out a loan where it ends up costing you significantly more than the ticket price because that’s how loans work.
Or you grab a free license and…
I can see that I am getting on peoples nerves pretty quickly here.
I am asking WHY Unity is so expensive for me 1500 is allot of money.
lol, you’re not getting on my nerves at all. We’re just interested to know why you think it’s “expensive” considering the free options and the price of other comparable software.
In fact, in the arena of game engines in particular, I’m pretty sure that Unity has influenced a significant price drop in general. There was no UDK around before Unity started with their free licenses, for instance.
As for why that price… I’d guess it’s because it’s on par with other software used by developers while being far cheaper than typical engine licensing is or used to be. So it makes a professional level engine accessible for around the price of other high-end software, and without the restrictions of per-project licensing which would put competing products out of reach of plenty of potential customers.
I have been working with the free license for a while now… I have felt that I am not really getting anything done… Keep in mind that I am an artist and not a programmer in anyway shape or form…
Just simple economics…they need to charge enough to cover their costs, plus hopefully make some kind of profit, so they set the price to what they expect will sell enough copies to do that. And no, cutting the price in half will not double the sales.
–Eric
Unfortunately a professional license won’t change that. Except perhaps for on the psychological side of things - “I’ve spent $1500 on this, so I’d better do something with it”.
Ok, fair enough,
Thanks, Eric
Nope you’re correct but two thing to factor in here:
A) Upgrade cost’s to major revisions
B) You don’t have to pony up the money all at once
You still get a lot for you money, believe me when I say other engines are expensive (More than a house expensive) and Unity is a drop in the ocean.
Think about it this way, if you really and I mean really love games… Even on a McDonald’s wage full time for a year you could afford it.
@ SteveJ, Jynx :P…
The problem is that I have some severe medical problems. So No one will really hire me due to well heath care and they think I cannot do the work.
Yes I love games… But if no one will really hire me let alone having various commercial licenses (3DS Max, Photoshop, etc.) is a bit out there…
I’d suggest selling some stuff you make in the free version and using that to save up for Pro, if that’s what you really want.
Find a gap on the Asset Store and fill it.
Personally I just want to make a game with Unity… Free or Paid (Preferably paid) I do not care at this point.
I do not mind splitting the profits with 50/50 after the distributor takes their cut.
Unity is so generously priced it amazes me
+1
And also the lack of having to pay royalties if you make $X amount makes it even better… Unlike UDK
Keep in mind that UDK cost nothing besides the one time $99 fee for a commercial license. And you get free upgrades for lifetime. Unity get’s expensive really quick if you consider upgrades, modules like iOS Pro and third party plug-ins that are often necessary.
Plus you get some really awesome tools shipped with UDK which won’t cost you a dime. Like Speedtree, Simplygon, Scaleform, FaceFX etc.
A lot won’t even reach the 50K threshold. And if you have a truly awesome game, you can still make enough money. It’s even more modest than some bigger iOS publisher who take 50% of the cake after apple’s 30% cut.
I’m not the biggest fan of royalty share either. But that’s due the fact, that you have to do the paperwork and report your earnings to Epic each quarter as long as your game is on sale. Sounds like a hassle.
But I do know that you can negotiate a deal with Epic and buy a full license without royalty share, once you’ve made enough money.
If you dont hit the 50k threshhold, i hope you dont have employees