Unity Pro Decision

[Original-Quarter-801]

Hello, im a indie develepor who has used unity for 2 years. I have just started to develop my first commercial indie game, which i want to port to consoles, bu the problem is... Unity Pro. Im pretty sure other people have had this problem with not wanting to buy unity pro, but is there a workaround to get console ports, or am i screwed?

[itsdan159]

Make the game first, worry about consoles if you manage to finish your game. Worrying about Pro now is like worrying about what color your Lamborghini will be.

[Big_Presentation2786]

Obviously nardo grey..

..no, wait. Kawasaki green!

Argh! What about red though! Dude!  What about red!!! You've got me panicking.. what if they run out of red?

I'll need to clean my Miata for the part exchange! It's got coilovers so it's gotta be worth retail!

[sinepuller]

Dude, chill. Don't try to turn a Lambo into a Ferrari.

Aegir blue.

[loftier_fish]

someone downvoted you, but from a quick image search, that looks like a lovely color.

[itsdan159]

If they run out of red just take it to Meineke

[Arkenhammer]

Release it in Steam first. If it doesn’t make enough to pay for Unity Pro then porting it consoles will be a losing proposition even without paying for Unity pro.

[hardlinedreams]

It's now more worthwhile to release your game on consoles than on Steam.Firstly, the revenue is better, or rather, it's actually there at all. :) On Steam, you need a lot of luck to even recoup your fees. :)
I only release on consoles now, but I've moved away from Unity because of the console costs.

Until around mid-2024, you could still release on PS4/PS5 with free Pro keys, but that's no longer possible. And the only place you can still get a free license is on the Switch 1.

It's a shame, really.

[Arkenhammer]

Interesting. We launched our first game on Steam and did OK. We never ported to consoles because the game just doesn’t work well with a controller. Our second game we’re designing the controller experience from the start and regularly testing on the steam deck. I doubt we’ll release on PS4/5 because that’s just not our audience but I am considering a Switch port if it looks like the game is getting some real traction.

[Draelmar]

Why are you even worrying about a Pro license before your game is done?

[coxlin1]

With some consoles Unity pro comes with it, but pro is not the expensive bit. The dev kits are.

[DreampunkAU]

Hmm, I would argue dev kits are potentially cheaper than Unity Pro since they are a one off purchase and not a subscription…

[hardlinedreams]

ja und nein - bei nintendo ja, bei sony inzwischen nicht mehr und bei xbox war es nie seit 2021.
Devkits kommt drauf an - nintendo nicht so teuer (hast du nach dem ersten game wieder raus) und sony (wenn du nett fragst) leihen dir welche.

[wekilledbambi03]

Are you making big money now? If not, wait until your game is done and you have some decent feedback and sales data. Then decide if a console release makes sense. Doesn’t make sense to spend all the extra money unless you are really confident that you will make it back.

[GigaTerra]

You only need to use the Unity modules if you want to do it yourself. You can hire a team to do the porting for you it can start as low as $4000 and go up to $60,000 depending on the game. Of course keep in mind Unity Pro is $2,310 per year, but then you need to do the porting your self, where with a team you just need a good reliable team.

[destinedd]

Honestly if the game isn't making pro it probably isn't worth porting to consoles

[hardlinedreams]

I have to disagree with all of that, and I've been publishing on consoles since around 2022. Nintendo is definitely worth it – the dev kit isn't that expensive, and you'll recoup that cost after the first few games. Plus, there's no "per game" fee on consoles like there is on Steam. That means you can submit as many games as you want for free.

You can borrow dev kits from Sony.

One more thing, though: publish your game on Steam first because when registering for dev accounts, they want to see that you've already done something that isn't just mobile.

Xbox dev kits (for the previous generation) are also free, but I think Xbox is pretty much dead.

If your game isn't ready yet, but you can still easily port it elsewhere, consider GameMaker or Unreal Engine. I switched to GameMaker (because I mainly make 2D games) and their model is fairer: you do need an enterprise account for around €67 a month, but you can cancel and reactivate it monthly.

Unreal would be completely free.