Corona Subscription Update by CHAOS

[Peter A.]

I'll also add that I've requested to downgrade to solo already, and it hasn't been done yet. 2 replies from Chaos on my ticket trying to upsell me still. You guys sound like a fucking cable company that can't take no for an answer, and honestly it's making me want to just drop Corona entirely or even bootleg it out of spite.

At the very least solo should have the ability to allow installation on 2 computers; I think that would please a lot of us that are pissed off. I understand price increases, expected them when Chaos took the wheel, and loved that up until now the promise of not raising prices was great under a new, young fresh company created by those in the same field. But throw us a fucking bone here, please.

Hi,

This is what I got from Chaos Support:

The way you can downgrade to SOLO is to disable your automatic renewal. Steps below:
 
1. Go to my.chaos.com

2. Go to Products > Active products

3. Click on the product of your choice

4. Next to the Auto-renewal button : click on Cancel Subscription

5.  You will see a pop-up window asking you to confirm - click on Cancel Subscription

Once your subscription expires you can then purchase Corona Solo from here: https://corona-renderer.com/prices-licensing

Hope this helps.

Peter

[Jpjapers]

The fact that youre restricted on what you can and cant say regarding pricing says a hell of alot about the relationship with chaos.
This has never been an issue in the past and the open discussion with the team has always been a major part of why i like the software and come to these forums.

This is a bullshit move and completely anti-consumer. There should be laws against this kind of price gouging for subscriptions.

[dj_buckley]

The fact that youre restricted on what you can and cant say regarding pricing says a hell of alot about the relationship with chaos.
This has never been an issue in the past and the open discussion with the team has always been a major part of why i like the software and come to these forums.

This is a bullshit move and completely anti-consumer. There should be laws against this kind of price gouging for subscriptions.

This is what I just got back in my support ticket with regards to pricing:

"Yes, the prices of our products are a bit higher now. Before making this decision, we analyzed the market, the product features that we would like to introduce, and the overall future goals we would like to achieve according to product and people development. Kindly note Corona Renderer pricing had not been updated for a long time and with old prices it was nearly impossible to sustain and develop the product. We love what we do, and that’s why we do it. If you like Chaos Corona and find it useful please pay us for our hard work. You won't be funding some fat cat’s swimming pool, you’ll be investing in Corona’s future (and yours). It’s money that you get back in the form of improvements to speed and features, delivered to you in a timely manner."

I wouldn't mind if the features were complete when released, they always take another 2/3 releases to be properly polished.  I'd rather it wasn't in a timely manner if it meant they were production ready when released.  Just look how long it's taking to iron out kinks in caustics and displacement etc etc.  Also "please pay us for our hard work" - I have been.  That's the sort of thing I say to customers who haven't paid me at all and I'm still chasing the invoice 3 months later.

But you're absolutely right about the relationship with Chaos, it's now price hikes and a forced release schedule to keep the paying customer happy, no better than Autodesk now in that respect.

[Jpjapers]

"Yes, the prices of our products are a bit higher now. Before making this decision, we analyzed the market, the product features that we would like to introduce, and the overall future goals we would like to achieve according to product and people development. Kindly note Corona Renderer pricing had not been updated for a long time and with old prices it was nearly impossible to sustain and develop the product. We love what we do, and that’s why we do it. If you like Chaos Corona and find it useful please pay us for our hard work. You won't be funding some fat cat’s swimming pool, you’ll be investing in Corona’s future (and yours). It’s money that you get back in the form of improvements to speed and features, delivered to you in a timely manner."

The price increase is understandable. The fact that theyre charging double because someone wants to pay monthly, is absolutely disgusting.
Its also laughable that they think its acceptable to charge more than a 3ds max indie license for software that can only be used in one DCC.

So now as a freelancer, i have to pay out an extra $350 this month plus my 3ds max renewal cost, all to continue doing my job and during an inflationary cost of living crisis.
Thanks for that guys.

[chromatic_aberration]

“This is to let you know that your subscription pricing has changed.

Product: Corona Renderer for 3ds Max - Box license - 1 WS + 3 NODES (with Subscription)

New price: 99.00 EUR

Price for the first month: 418.80 EUR”

400% price increase for Box license users.

This price hike has been executed very poorly, I’ve been a user of Corona since the first alphas and I think there was not enough communication about this move. The email was hard to understand, the website links were not working and users got moved to the premium plan without requesting for it

I knew the price increase was coming but charging users double or triple and forcing them to choose within 30 days is a hard push. It almost seems that it was made to catch some users unaware to lock them down in the pricier plan

Not offering the user any choice regarding the features they need and bundling software they don’t want to justify the price increase is a hard sell. Some of us will need to pay more to use the same features we have in our current plans

I wish the price increase was done in a staggered manner, with time to explain the changes and flexibility to make our own choice. The way some of the comments put Adobe as a better subscription model tells me things could have been done better

I am overall concerned about this move. This is my first post in the forums. I am not looking for a cookie-cutter answer from support, just wanted to share my thoughts

[Jpjapers]

The way some of the comments put Adobe as a better subscription model tells me things could have been done better

I only use Adobe as an example of a company that seems to understand that their professional users will absolutely need their software for a whole year, but also seems to understand that letting them pay monthly, whilst tying them into a 12 month contract, is better for their users. Because a huge amount of their user base are freelancers.

[killer000sp]

Hey guys, I'd like to say that I'm on the same boat as you are. I'm really disappointed by the way this price policy is heading. I do agree with everything said before. I'm occasional freelance user who uses Corona from time to time on my home PC and notebook when I'm on the road. I'd like to have a good old Corona with floating license that I can buy whenever I need it, with no additional "Chaos" tools like Cosmos, Phoenix etc. since I never used them, never needed them and never asked for them. I'm using Corona since it's alpha release and since then I build my whole pipeline upon it and I always loved it and praised it. Now I'm thinking about learning built-in Arnold renderer or finding some reasonable alternative. I'm even more disappointed because I'm from the Czech Republic as the guys who made this awesome renderer. I do believe that there is more users out there who disagree with this unbelievable price increase. I just wanted to say that you few here in this thread are not alone. There is so much options on how the licensing could look like so let's hope that the guys from Corona team will reconsider this unreasonable way of licensing – even though I know that it sounds naive. I love this renderer and this doubled-price policy seems like betrayal after all these years of claiming it's affordable for everyone. I hope that this thread will be filled with more of us and maybe it will get to the Corona team someday because we don't need to know that "you can buy 1-year subscription for the same monthly price as before!", we want to hear that someone up there is really concerned about customer feedback. Everything is running via subscription nowadays and I feel that every company thinks that we have unlimited amount of money to afford everything. Adobe, Autodesk, even f***ing Pantone color library... It seems that future for all lone freelancers is in Affinity and Blender (which I hate)... Shame.

[Owin]

What a massive price increase, jesus...

[steyin]

So all the back and forth of a support ticket just to tell me to cancel and re-purchase to get solo. If you can't do a simple thing like change our subscription status on the company/staff end, then what the hell is the point of support?
I've lost a lot of faith in Corona and will severely consider switching products when the time comes now. And let's be honest; with minor differences between Vray and Corona now, it's only a matter of time until Corona gets phased away I think.

[Adam]

Would be great if you also looked at region pricing because not only are we getting screwed by your price increase, paying in $ while having a shitty currency is adding extra pain.

[Peter A.]

So, I have to pay double for monthly subscription. I cannot afford to pay 400 Eur next month for one year. Of course, I can save 32 Eur every month so next year I will have enough money for another year license. But now, Chaos just put me in very bad situation. As a freelancer, I have to save every Euro, I'm not in position of just spending 380 Euro over regular costs and fees.

And, as other users, I'm not interested in other Chaos stuff, including Cosmos, which I used ZERO times since it was included in Corona Renderer.

Why don't give us time to make a decision?

Peter

[chromatic_aberration]

So, I have to pay double for monthly subscription. I cannot afford to pay 400 Eur next month for one year. Of course, I can save 32 Eur every month so next year I will have enough money for another year license. But now, Chaos just put me in very bad situation. As a freelancer, I have to save every Euro, I'm not in position of just spending 380 Euro over regular costs and fees.

And, as other users, I'm not interested in other Chaos stuff, including Cosmos, which I used ZERO times since it was included in Corona Renderer.

Why don't give us time to make a decision?

Peter

I agree with you. Sadly, most software companies are transitioning to the SAAS model nowadays. I know the developers have stated that Chaos buying Corona delayed the price increase for some time and I understand the need to raise the prices. What I am criticizing is the way it was made

It feels that small and medium size users are going to be squeezed in this transition. Corona had the image of a consumer-friendly company, putting users’ needs first and supporting small studios and freelancers but not giving them enough information and time to prepare for this change and not being flexible about our needs and concerns shows that their priorities have changed

I was concerned about Chaos buying Corona because I thought that the company’s culture will start to change. I know that at the end of the day it is a business and Chaos and its shareholders have to get their money back. With the rendering software industry consolidating with fewer players and Chaos merging with Escape I am afraid this will become a new trend

[Freakaz]

Wow.. just wow, if paid monthly the license price just increased by 300%. Seriously? And to pay more for the stuff that most of us do not use anyway just to keep the previously acquired render nodes is a plain terrorism.
Do you even consider how many freelancers will ditch you for a cracked version now? 

[dj_buckley]

Wow.. just wow, if paid monthly the license price just increased by 300%. Seriously? And to pay more for the stuff that most of us do not use anyway just to keep the previously acquired render nodes is a plain terrorism.
Do you even consider how many freelancers will ditch you for a cracked version now?

It won't just be freelancers

[Kalopsia]

We used to get a Corona licence and 3 render nodes, after almost 5 years and an additional 90€ we get no more render nodes and no floating licence. So we are asked another 96€ to get a floating licence back and another 119€ to get an additional render node.

You used to pay 232€ in 2018 to 537,6€ in 2022 for one licence and a RN. That is not even taking into account that we used to get 3 render nodes.

The fact that I get to keep my nodes when paying a premium subscription is not really a consolation, to me the Premium subscription has no value at all. What is the point of Phoenix? Do your clients ask you to destroy their hotel complex with a Tsunami or put their furniture on fire? Mine do not, but maybe I just don’t have fancy enough clients.

Chaos Cosmos and Player? What are they and why would anyone use them? You can’t open a CoronaEXR in the Player so what is it meant to do? Anyone working with any kind of animation is using a Postproduction tool, so this Player is not worth any money because it does not solve any problems you were having in the first place. And then there is Chaos Scans, which might be something you could use but again, why did we need it? If we wanted to pay for Scans we would have done so in the past. We didn’t and we won't.

So I am very frustrated by the prospect of paying more money because of an obvious pricing structure geared towards getting the last cent out of customers and trying to make it seem like we get additional value out of it. In reality we are asked to pay an additional 50% to keep the software and features we used to get. And the more licences you own, the higher that cost to keep them because you have to pay an additional 50% for every licence.

At least Itoo is still around and keeps their promise. I suggest everyone pay for Forest or Railclone, otherwise we will be paying for Chaos Scatter in a few years when they announce the Ultra Premium Pro subscription.

Sorry for the people reading this. You are certainly not directly responsible for the new pricing structure.

For all the monthly subsribers, I feel for you.