Your thread title is misleading. Unity Pro will not be free. The Playstation Add-On will be free to Unity Pro customers.
A comment from a Unity developer on that page:
"Once you have Unity Pro, you can build to any Sony platform – you still might need to become a licensed developer from Sony etc. (see the link in the text), but nothing extra to buy as far as Unity is concerned"
Your thread title is misleading. Unity Pro will not be free. The Playstation Add-On will be free to Unity Pro customers.
A comment from a Unity developer on that page:
It's also actually the other way round, so the title's correct. If you're a licensed Playstation dev, then Unity Pro is now completely free. You can register to become a licensed dev here -
You'd need to be licensed to actually make use of the PS3/4 add-ons anyway, therefore you'd also be using the free Pro license supplied with your Playstation dev license, therefore they're also free to eligible Pro users, in a confusing-to-explain way.
"You still need regular Unity Pro, but ability to build for PSM (or any other Sony platform) does not cost anything extra."
"Does not cost anything extra" to me means that you still need to buy a Unity Pro license, and only the Add on is free. *shrug* They just need to explain it better.
Yeah, it's been a super-confusing announcement, sorry! I believe Aras was answering a query related to the free PSM build targets, which was an older announcement, so it's not actually directly related to this newer one.
It will work very similarly to our existing Xbox dev program - if you don't have Pro already, there will be an option to download a free Playstation Pro build in your dev.net account, if you already have Pro, you have the option to add the Playstation build targets to your Unity license, or just use the free version if you wish. We've modified the blog post to make this a bit clearer!
would this be providing people with both Unity pro and playstation pro? since you kinda need both if you want ot build for playstation using hte pro features
would this be providing people with both Unity pro and playstation pro? since you kinda need both if you want ot build for playstation using hte pro features
Yep! If you have a Playstation dev license you'll have a version of Unity Pro on scedev.net which is an optimised-for-playstation build with all the relevant API/SDK's included for PS dev work. Aside from the Sony specific additions it's the standard version of 4.3 Pro with the Sony build targets included.
I'll have to clarify that but I believe you're right - if you want to build to non-Playstation targets and you've used any pro features (currently things like RTT, umbra, etc) you'll need to buy a standard pro license.
I imagine if there's no pro-specific features present or you're just using things like the profiler, you can build to pc and other targets as normal (if those targets are enabled in Unity PS Pro) or open the project in free to build as you normally would.
But you could not, for example, use those pro features to build to PC, right? It only builds to console if you don't already have a pro license?
That is correct. This is the "catch" in this particular deal. The free version of Unity Pro is only for targeting Playstation platforms. It does not apply to any other platforms, including PC. So if you are a licensed Playstation developer, you can now build Unity Pro applications for any Playstation platform, free of charge. But if you want to build your game for PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, etc..., it will have to be sans any Pro-specific features. (or you will have to pony up for Pro yourself)
So, good news for anyone who was already using Pro and looking to port things over to Playstation platforms. No extra cost to them. And good news for anyone looking to lean hard into Playstation development without much concern for other platforms. For everyone else its business as usual.
The message from Sony is obvious. They want software on their platforms, and don't mind throwing a little funding and support at Unity to make that happen. While their desire is transparent, I can't fault the way they are going about it. The growing ubiquity of Unity makes it an ideal engine for fueling indie development. While a little self-serving on Sony's part, this is still a way for them to support development, both large and small.
Replies
A comment from a Unity developer on that page:
It's also actually the other way round, so the title's correct. If you're a licensed Playstation dev, then Unity Pro is now completely free. You can register to become a licensed dev here -
https://www.companyregistration.playstation.com/SCEInternetApplications/AreaNewLicensee/MainSystem/CFModules/NewLicensee/snl_master_template.cfm
You'd need to be licensed to actually make use of the PS3/4 add-ons anyway, therefore you'd also be using the free Pro license supplied with your Playstation dev license, therefore they're also free to eligible Pro users, in a confusing-to-explain way.
https://twitter.com/aras_p/status/512148837511602176
"Does not cost anything extra" to me means that you still need to buy a Unity Pro license, and only the Add on is free. *shrug* They just need to explain it better.
It will work very similarly to our existing Xbox dev program - if you don't have Pro already, there will be an option to download a free Playstation Pro build in your dev.net account, if you already have Pro, you have the option to add the Playstation build targets to your Unity license, or just use the free version if you wish. We've modified the blog post to make this a bit clearer!
Yep! If you have a Playstation dev license you'll have a version of Unity Pro on scedev.net which is an optimised-for-playstation build with all the relevant API/SDK's included for PS dev work. Aside from the Sony specific additions it's the standard version of 4.3 Pro with the Sony build targets included.
I imagine if there's no pro-specific features present or you're just using things like the profiler, you can build to pc and other targets as normal (if those targets are enabled in Unity PS Pro) or open the project in free to build as you normally would.
That is correct. This is the "catch" in this particular deal. The free version of Unity Pro is only for targeting Playstation platforms. It does not apply to any other platforms, including PC. So if you are a licensed Playstation developer, you can now build Unity Pro applications for any Playstation platform, free of charge. But if you want to build your game for PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, etc..., it will have to be sans any Pro-specific features. (or you will have to pony up for Pro yourself)
So, good news for anyone who was already using Pro and looking to port things over to Playstation platforms. No extra cost to them. And good news for anyone looking to lean hard into Playstation development without much concern for other platforms. For everyone else its business as usual.
The message from Sony is obvious. They want software on their platforms, and don't mind throwing a little funding and support at Unity to make that happen. While their desire is transparent, I can't fault the way they are going about it. The growing ubiquity of Unity makes it an ideal engine for fueling indie development. While a little self-serving on Sony's part, this is still a way for them to support development, both large and small.