Corona vs Unity?

Games
#101

Hi Chris,

Of course you’re free to express your thoughts on this, and you are (sincerely) one of our best customers. But it would help to be accurate on these points. First of all, we didn’t double the price for paying Pro customers… even if the rate was a true “double” (which it isn’t) paying Pro customers get the original rate for 2 full years. This has all been covered many times over, in the threads and topics that went along with the price change.

Secondly, Unity did not just “make it free” out of pure kindness in their hearts. They made parts of it free, and anybody is welcome to inspect their pricing page for details. They are a business too, and they will charge you when you need “more”; coincidentally, $1500 for iOS and Android individually, for a total of $3000 versus Corona’s $599. Now obviously, it’s futile to compare each product feature side-by-side, as they are fundamentally different, but it should be clarified that Unity iOS or Android “free” is a bit more complex than their labels indicate.

Regards,

Brent

#102

Unity pricing is not yearly, it is one-time.  You pay for upgrades when they go to a new version (every 2-3 years) and that’s optional (although most will want to upgrade) and the upgrade price is a ton cheaper.

Unity doesn’t have any limitations like Corona, Corona you need $1,000+/yr license to do what Unity can do.  As I mentioned to you privately many times, Corona’s success is very much tied to plugins.  There are many things that just simply cannot be done in Corona without a paid license.  Simple things sometimes like building a drawing app with Fill or even an Eraser function is not possible with Corona, no matter how hard you try.  This is pretty simple in Unity, Moai, Glideros, Quick, Marmalade, or any other SDK because the system isn’t limited.

The pricing is very close to double, and because it is grandfathered for 1-2 years if you chose to, doesn’t change the fact any. Unity is more expensive (especially up front) because it is a significantly more powerful system.  It’s also geared towards much larger projects, that’s why the most impressive games released have been done on Unity or Marmalade.

Corona has a lot of benefits, and quick development is one of them.  

Of course they made it free for the same reasons you did, to get more people using it so they will eventually upgrade to Pro versions.  The difference is they didn’t increase the price of their pro version by 80% to fund it.  

That being said, most people using Corona, Unity isn’t a good fit, as it is more complex.  But I cannot see the price change Corona made any other way than funding the free tier.  

I still use and love Corona, but there are frustrations with it as well but the large price hike to finance free users is a big slap in the face. 

#103

Understood, and it’s a fair, mature debate… but as a point of clarification, did Unity iOS/Android previously have two “tiers” like “iOS Standard” and “iOS Pro”? Or was it just one tier that was available as a basic add-on to the core? I believe it was the latter, but perhaps I’m mistaken. If there was previously one tier, and now there are two, then they  did increase the price of their iOS/Android Pro to “fund the free tier”. If that’s the case, it used to be $400 each and now it’s $1500 each, meaning a price increase of 275%. As for upgrading to new versions, unless they’ve changed that too, it was around 40% of the core price to upgrade to each new version Unity, which are not spread 2-3 years apart. So 40% of $1500 is $600, same as Corona. :slight_smile:

#104

They always have had two tiers “unity” and “unity pro”. Nothing changed except “unity” is free.

The price difference is understandable because Unity can do a ton more and supports many more platforms at the cost of complexity but Lua support is coming to Unity as well.

I’d rather see Corona dump the free tier and return to the regular prices. With the limitations of Corona it’s hard to justify the big price hike. Like I said I can’t even do a drawing app in Corona which would seem simple.

#105

I know that, but did they previously have two “iOS tiers”? I believe it was formerly just “iOS add-on” for $400 (and likewise for Android). If so… and it might be splitting hairs… but now it’s two iOS tiers and two Android tiers, with “free” being free (with restrictions) and Pro being $1500 vs. $400.

#106

No they had Unity which was free, then $400 (one-time) for iOS add on. Then $1500 for iOS “pro addon”.

#107

Now I’m more confused than ever. Sort of like when I tried to develop in Unity (I’m half joking everybody; we all need to laugh occasionally). :slight_smile: Oh well, back to work… and Chris, Corona plugins have launched, so hopefully this will benefit you going forward.

#108

I can’t make plugins unless I want to almost double the price again. The plugins I want won’t likely be done for 6m-1y if at all. Many not at all.

Some things I don’t think can be solved with plugins either. Like pixel level manipulations.

Think of unity as add-ons not subscriptions. They are one time price and just “add-on” to base unity product. So if you want to do iOS you add either iOS base or pro add-on to base Unity product.

#109

This conversation is bad for me.

I started my project in Corona last year. Had to restart and do a different one (still in Corona). I bought the license for iOS when it was 199/year.

My sub is up in September, my game isn’t finished yet, even if I get it done in the next 2 months, how will I support it after September?

The game will be free with IAPs for additional content and characters - but the free version doesn’t support that.

Most games on the store by unknown developers will not make $600 (to pay for the license). So, to support my own project, where I thought it would be $200 for another year, is now going to be $600?

WTF? This is disconcerting to say the least. I was prepared to buy the license for another year for updates on my game, but now… how will I do that?

#110

Brent, Micah’s post brings up a good point.  For Indie users, the price change was actually 3x more not just 80% more.

#111

I believe you get the next 2 years at $349/yr, not $600

#112

I do not work for corona or have anything except my time and apps invested in corona, I can honestly say I do not think that Corona is totally over priced on their Pro version. Now the Enterprise version in pretty high but I have not really compared what you get between the two.

Since current Developers were upgraded to the Pro Version and then Grandfathered for the earlier pricing I think that is pretty darn Fair. Not many companies would do that. Most companies would just offer a quick limited sale and then raise their price for all.

Yes their other companies with different prices, and some do what corona does, better in some ways worse in others. But overall I think corona pricing is pretty fair.

And by the way I will be downloading and using the Unitity Free edition on IOS as well.

that’s my .02 cents anyway.

Larry

#113

Thanks for all the responses. I’m happy with Corona, I’m just nervous that I won’t be able to support my own game. But, being grandfathered in will be OK, I suppose, though I hadn’t planned on spending $349, since I was only previously interested in iOS. Guess I’ll have to release on Android, Kindle, Etc.

#114

Hi everyone. I dont want to belabor the point, but just want to make sure everyone gets the facts straight on pricing here.

Corona has 3 tiers:

  1. Starter, which is free. It is missing in-app purchases, that is the real tradeoff. 

  2. Pro, which is $599/year

  3. Enterprise, which is $1000/year for indies/small companies

Unity has two tiers:

  1. Free, which is free. It is missing a number of features (which many people may not need) and has a Unity splash screen

  2. Pro, which is $4500 (if you want to do iOS and Android)

Yes, Unity is “one time” vs. Corona’s subscription. But if you want to upgrade Unity (say every ~2 years), you will have to pay 50% again. You will probably want to upgrade or you will fall really far behind.

So lets look at the spend over 4 years:

  • Corona Pro = $2400 ($600*4)

  • Corona Enterprise (for an Indie) = $4000 ($1000*4)

  • Unity Pro = $6750 ($4500+$2250)

So Corona is significantly cheaper. Now, you may argue that Unity is a “bigger” tool. And that is true. But that also is the whole point: Unity is a more complex tool and you will build 2D games and apps more quickly and efficiently with Corona. Because of that, the comparison is almost not apples to apples.

But for those that insist on making the cost comparison, I think Corona comes out ok.

FINALLY - if you were a subscriber on April 30 this year, then you will be able to renew 2 more times at $349 (NOT $599).

And, to be 100% clear, we have nothing against Unity. It is a great tool and company. These are just the facts.

David

#115

Most games on the store by unknown developers will not make $600 (to pay for the license).

While I realize I could be wrong, I have a hard time believing that IAP is the ONE-THING stopping a game from making money. I read zillions of post-mortems and articles all the time about freemium vs paid and understand there is big money in freemium (or can be)…

…but I don’t think a game that can’t make $600 as a paid game will EVER make any more than that as a freemium game. I just don’t. 

If I didn’t have a Pro account already I’d be all over the Starter edition and using it to create paid games. And the game that ends up making $600 or more? That’s the one to grab and try IAP with the newly purchased Pro license.

IAP isn’t any assurance of making money – a good game is the assurance.

 Jay

#116

It’s not that simple, the problem is discoverability.  Paid apps are extremely difficult to be discovered.  But going free and offering IAP, you have a much better shot of getting people to try your app.

#117

Sounds like a great idea for a test – two people create the same game using the same artwork, music, etc. One charges 99 cents, the other is free with IAP. Same marketing for each one, and see what the results are in 30, 60, 90 days.

(Or maybe one person writes the game and the clone and names them very close (That Cool Runner & This Cool Runner), the 2nd person just submits the clone (since 1 person can’t submit the same game twice) and then they do the marketing, press releases, etc., exactly the same.)

It would need to be done “under the radar” until after the results were in so one camp wouldn’t try to sway the results. And so Apple wouldn’t pull one of them as a dupe. :slight_smile:

Someone do it! :slight_smile:

 Jay

#118

After reading this thread I feel I would like to reply regarding the free/paid versions of Corona.

I am one of the few under 18 year old developers here ( I like to call myself that ). I have been using Corona for just over a year, I purchased an Indie developer (used my student status) account last September after building my first game.

I have since learnt much more with the help of some marvellous people here who have spent time answering questions and leading me (thanks Ed).

When Corona changed the price plans I thought great , thank you for the free pro upgrade. In all honesty it didnt make any different to me because I work with android, cant afford a mac etc etc.

I then looked into what the Pro license offered me for the cost. Ok, I thought fair enough but then I discovered that IAP was missing from the free version. My heart sank as TBH I have never liked using ads in games and the IAP option was going to be used with my game under development now and more importantly in the future.

What I am left with is not being able to use IAP at all, I cant afford the 599 either.

I would have gladly saved my money for another indie license, in-fact I had started to do just that.

I just develop for android at the moment so dont need the benefits the pro version offers, well just the IAP :slight_smile:

So for me even though the corona community is awesome I am stuck from paying 149 for my student discounted Indie license to 599 for a Pro. Ridiculous.

Corona can you not bring back Indie licenses with just the IAP? say at 199 again.

I know I am young but I am not stupid and my parents own business’ but in my opinion I think you have made a mistake dropping the Indies.

Maybe restrict the free version with the splash and no IAP, bring back the Indies.

You shouldn’t have gotten rid of that splash screen, I bought the Indie to remove just that.

Thanks for listening.

#119

You’re thinking like a terrible marketer, and yes you are wrong. Very wrong. A good game doesn’t assure anything. Just take a look at “Punch Quest”. 

#120

bubblebobble - Thanks for the post. I do agree that the people that ONLY wanted an Indie subscription for the foreseeable future are indeed now faced with a situation of paying more if they want IAP. Unfortunately we cannot make everyone happy all the time.

HOWEVER, a couple of things:

  • what is included in Starter vs. Pro will evolve over time. The platform will naturally have more and more features and some things will move down to Starter from Pro

  • If you are still a student, then you can still buy Pro at $249 (http://www.coronalabs.com/store/corona-for-education/)

  • If you are a current subscriber (on April 30), then even if you are not a student, you will be able to renew for $349