Except it doesn’t cost 99$ per year. It’s completely optional.
From your quoted use case… if you want to remove the splash screen *when you release your game* pay the money at that time. You don’t need to remove the splash screen whilst it’s in development
David, I’m not really sure why you believe that anybody who is learning and building is forced to pay the $99? It’s optional, and having a Corona branded splash screen while learning how to build games should be one of your smallest concerns imo.
The $99/year to remove the splash screen is fine. I’m happy to pay something for this awesome development platform - paid $600 for Pro 2 years ago.
I see the buyout of CoronaLabs by Roj Niyogi - considering the fantastic development improvements in Corona these past 10 months, the staff at CoronaLabs appears to be responding well (in work output) to his leadership - found him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sniyogi
Guys, I know it’s optional, but if you are a professional & skilled designer/front end developer, then having an advertisement as your splash screen is cringe worthy, and very amateur. In my case, it is a non-starter, and would be a non-optional payment I would personally have to make. If you don’t mind having a splash screen then perhaps you are building apps as a hobby and not a career, which is perfectly fine.
My main point relates to the obtrusive, sudden and blunt way that Corona introduced this new “feature”. As a loyal and existing user I am upset. I feel deceived. I am about to submit my app to the Apple store, and have found out that my current build will be rejected if I don’t upgrade to a new build, which has a $99 catch. My app will have 2 splash screens if I don’t pay for it. Very amateur. Especially when we are trying to compete against 1000’s of other great apps.
I invite you to take a look at this game.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.macaque.Missiles
It was made in Unity. I know that because it has a Unity splash screen. You might think it is amateur but that didn’t stop 1 Million people on Google Play from downloading it. And when I see that Unity splash screen as a developer I think to myself, “This popular game was made with Unity, maybe I can make a popular game with Unity too.”
A splash screen will not make or break a game. It’s the actual game that the users care about.
Now, if you’re talking about a business app, then I agree with you. In my opinion a business app shouldn’t have a splash screen at all. And I also agree that Corona could have handled this announcement better and given us more time to prepare.
can you postpone this decision one month from now? you should have told us so we prepare ourselfs 
can you make another version of the plugin valid for a month for USD 9.99 ? people can digest it like this…
I have taught corona sdk to hundreds of people, by this you are forcing us to move gideros.
Vince, perhaps I should have mentioned I create mainly business apps (career purposes), and for my hobby (mainly for my nieces and nephews) I create game apps. Perhaps my opinion was skewed towards that then. My apologies.
Come on, it’s not a feature. If you can’t load an image and show it for a few seconds before moving on to another scene, you’re probably never going to finish an app to release in the first place.
No issues with the amount, just the way it’s been done. Man up, tell us you miscalculated the business model and this is required to keep the platform going. Don’t sneak a $99 ‘feature’ in with virtually no notice that serves to embarrass developers in front of their clients.
I did not understand how this will impact, on older versions of the platform?
Why not warn about this change in advance? =(
I would have had time to prepare… So if I had agreed with the client, where it is not mentioned about this - it puts me in an awkward position right now =\
ps sorry for my english
weird pink stuff, how to remove?
I don’t mind paying $99 or showing the logo but integrating this into a build that developers are entitled to and calling it a “feature” is not cool at all. You should have informed us at least a month ago.
Also, I must say that this aggressive push gives me the impression that something is very wrong with Corona Labs and this is the last step to save Corona from going down. Hope you guys clear that out instead of being silent, fill us on what’s going on with Corona and why the sudden change of heart.
I started this topic to get some clarification from Corona on the issue. I have been withholding my comments until someone from Corona tells us more and it seem like they have been keeping quiet until it was made official on their blogs.
Firstly, I have been on Corona for the past few years, from Pro to Free to “Splash Screen Gate”. I don’t mind paying for this feature, as many have said it…other platforms are doing the same, and i don’t expect anything to be free. My two cents:
$99 is really stiff for this purpose, and stop saying Corona is FREE. Something around $25/year, I think is a fair price for me.
Ever since Corona has gone thru a few acquisitions, there is so much uncertainty in your communication. Force this on us when everyone is busy getting their apps updated. Not helping Corona. Crucial developer monetization issues like Admob are kept in the dark.
Ben.
I’m more than ok paying $99 to support Corona ( Suggestion: what about a smaller Enterprise version at around $39-$49/month?).
Only thing though, please do a competition for the splash screen design. It doesn’t look that good right now, it should be more subtle.
Or what about having a few different splash screen the developers can choose (like a black standard, a gray one, a white one, etc etc)?
Also “Powered by Corona Labs?” Wouldn’t “Powered by Corona SDK” (or only Corona but guess it’s not possible, right?) be better?
Hi all,
As some of you remember (and for those who don’t even know me) I’ve been with Corona since, well… pretty much since the beginning. Officially for around 4-5 years, and as a Corona developer for 1-2 years before that. My other duties keep me somewhat less active in the forums, but every day I work toward helping all of you succeed with thorough documentation, learning materials, framework improvements, and more. So, I might be justified to provide some thoughts on a few sentiments being discussed. 
We knew this announcement would stir things up. That was inevitable. No announcement of this nature is going to make everybody cheer and dance, but as Rob mentioned, Corona is not an open-source hobby project. Everybody on the Corona Labs team pushes relentlessly and passionately toward making Corona better for you , and we do so as passionately as you dream up and develop your apps.
Yes, we probably didn’t “time” this as well as we could have, and labeling it as a “feature” was not our best decision (although please read further down on this point). We’re not perfect, and for that I apologize (sincerely; no sarcasm there).
There’s one thing I want to be absolutely clear on: this is not some last gasp effort. This is just one reaction/response to the reality of an ever-changing app development landscape. Some of you loved the “Pro/Basic/Starter” model and want it back. Some of you hated it. Some people liked “Corona Game Edition” (I challenge anybody here to tell me what that was, but I remember). Some of you would love to pay for Corona monthly, while others want to pay absolutely nothing, ever. And yet others would actually be willing to pay more than what we’re effectively charging with this plugin, because they value what we offer and they believe in the platform.
Finally, to conclude, I want to elaborate on the “feature” branding of this plugin. Right now, it might seem premature to label it that way, but this is not the final iteration. We will continue to develop it and improve it. For those who don’t like the current visual appearance, we will continue to discuss it internally and (as Rob mentioned) we might even gather community votes and contributions toward a new layout, multiple layout options, and more. What if it even let you combine Corona branding with your company logo, or if it displayed them in tandem with cross-fade effects? I am not guaranteeing or promising any of these features at this exact moment, but I want to emphasize that this plugin is essentially “v1”.
Onward and upward,
Brent
Most people who use free Engines/Platforms/SDK’s are people who are new to game development and still testing the waters. I for one have a set budget for my entire project which will be spent on (developer accounts, assets for the game, other services & marketing) now suddenly a 99$ comes out of nowhere.
I as many people already stated don’t have a problem supporting Corona for 99$/year( which is a lot in my native currency), and Corona has every right to try to monetize and grow itself, but if you are going to ask people for money then you need to give them something worthwhile and not create a problem and force them to deal with it, yes"Force". Corona should have offered some new features, for example:
-Camera object,
-Lightning & Shadow effects,
-Particle system,
-Wi-Fi builds,
-IDE with visual and code editor, to name a few.
But instead, the people at Corona used an opportunity like a new IOS release to try to enforce people to pay them money at the last minute before they submit to the app store. A very poor handling by Corona that will make people skeptical about continuing to use this product, because what’s next? suddenly you are going to charge people in order to submit to the app store? I mean anything is possible now.
Hi all,
Quick questions:
1) If we do not pay 99$/year will we be able to add our own custom splash screen after CORONA official splash screen?
Or that is not allowed by Apple (to have two splash screens)?
2) How long will splash screen be on (1 sec or …)?
I agree calling it feature is funny, it is badly presented by Corona (it is not a feature in any way).
Calling it “loyalty” or similar would be more precise/true.
At least they did not added an extra 99$ to remove splash from CORONA ENTERPRISE SMALL BUSINESS/UNLIMITED.
Many thanks.
Ivan
Basically this.
I was also happy paying the old paid tier a few years back, as a freelance Corona developer it was a tool of my trade and a complete no brainer. Then it went free just like Unity etc., fair enough, but then just to drop in that horrible splash screen and say its a $99 option without warning is a bit cheeky IMO. Of course I’ll be paying but I feel railroaded into the decision.
@Abdou23, we appreciate your feedback (and all feedback in this discussion). To re-confirm what has been said already, Corona remains free… just with a 2-3 second splash screen. You can continue using Corona exactly as before – and submitting iOS apps that are compatible with iOS 10 – without paying Corona Labs anything. I’m not sure where that point was lost in the communication of this announcement. Corona remains free for all users unless they want to remove/customize the splash screen. As for new features, what do you want to see? We already have a full particle system, along with various lighting and shadow effects. A “camera” object is also relatively easy to implement. Perhaps if you clarify what things you desire, I can help point you toward the proper resources.
@Ivan, the Apple-style “launch images” can remain if you wish them to. Or you can build your own custom splash screen following the Corona one using normal scene management (or a display object, etc.).
@phil_s, we appreciate your support and I’m sorry you feel “railroaded” into this. We’d like to hear exactly what you wish the visual appearance of the splash screen would/could be to make it more appealing to you.
Brent
Dear Brent,
You’re getting some feedback how “unattractive” the default splash screen is right now. We’re also seeing pink borders posted by 3denator. Since this plugin looks like a prototype, why don’t Corona just delay this until it matures. Cause some of us really need to update our apps like now. People who would pay, will pay - whether it is today or a few weeks down the road. At least by then will all have an attractive splash screen. Would you want millions of users see your current design? I don’t.
Frankly, i think your idea of customizable splash screen combining Corona and our own branding is a good idea (cause we both win, and we don’t have to pay $99).
On a more serious note, please tell your CEO to read this topic and put this “feature” off for a few weeks.
Ben.
@Brent, For me the only option is to remove it. I am thinking though maybe today I can make a quick buck and spend the day updating all the apps I made for my customers with my own logo before theirs and tell them its $99 to remove it (joking of course).