Corona Subscription Update by CHAOS

[maru]

Oh something is not right there, with you not receiving the email notifications, and not having those licenses. I know it's an inconvenience, but can I ask you to head to https://support.chaos.com/requests/new and submit a ticket? Let them know the email address your license is under, and then they can look into your account and see what is happening, as you should have those licenses now, and should have received an email detailing what was happening and not just the release newsletter.

TY for the congrats on the new features, and we'd like to get you up and running with the other new features like Scans and Player too. With your renewal being Feb 2023, you should have access to those all the way up until then on Premium without any extra cost, as only at your renewal will things be on the new pricing.

Done, Id #62141

Please confirm here or in the support ticket whether everything is working fine for you now.

Update: confirmed, issue resolved.

[Jpjapers]

If my current license is an old Fair SAAS license, what tier is that equivalent to in the new licensing? Do i need to contact support to access Phoenix etc?

Everyone is moved over to Premium to begin with, so right now everyone has everything. Only if they opt to swap to Solo will they lose access to Phoenix, Scans, and Player. If you were an old FairSaaS user, and kept your subscription active since then (through Corona 8 etc), then you also still have your render nodes. You'll have at least 30 days to decide if Premium is the right fit for you before any charge at the new pricing appears, so plenty of time to try out the new goodies! As a note, to keep the FairSaaS render nodes, you would have to continue with your Premium subscription specifically. Hope that helps!

Perfect thank Tom. Im more than happy to keep the premium for the added benefits. However will users that have been grandfathered in need to pay annually to retain what i would call 'sensible pricing' or are we automatically going to be charged what i would refer to as 'a ridiculous premium for the privilege of paying monthly'?

I wholeheartedly understand the need for a price increase. But the disparity between the monthly premium and annual premium is insane. Id much rather sign a 12 month subscription and pay monthly, which guarantees the same income, than have to pay 12 months in one go.

[Luke]

PS I will also add the other info, which has already been mentioned, that free render nodes from FairSaaS (if you have them) are still maintained, so long as your Premium subscription continues uninterrupted.

So in order to maintain the current FairSaas subscription inclusions, being one (floating?) licence and 3 render nodes we have to pay more than double €24.99 -> €59.90?

[Jpjapers]

PS I will also add the other info, which has already been mentioned, that free render nodes from FairSaaS (if you have them) are still maintained, so long as your Premium subscription continues uninterrupted.

So in order to maintain the current FairSaas subscription inclusions, being one (floating?) licence and 3 render nodes we have to pay more than double €24.99 -> €59.90?

Either that or pay annually which makes it a far more sensible price. I still think its crazy to demand such a premium for monthly payments.

[PROH]

It's insane. Reminds me of AD!

[TomG]

As a reminder (it's been mentioned before), the only ones who see the price "doubling" are those who we kept on the same pricing we launched with in 2015.  That is 7 years without any price increase at all, including keeping no increase with Corona 8 - had we made more frequent smaller increases over that time, then this would not seem so dramatic now. And indeed, the annual pricing doesn't have such a big shift in price, so is the recommended option - if you've been using Corona for long enough to have a FairSaaS that has migrated, you already know you are using it for the long term so paying annually does make the most sense.

And of course this is not a "price increase" anyway, as it is a shift in what the Corona license is, given that it now comes with extra tools and functionality (which would have been much more expensive bought separately, if you wanted to get into such math).

Hope that helps!

[dj_buckley]

As a director of a small 1-man limited company, I'm a business owner that qualifies for 3ds max indie.  My Corona subscription just became twice as expensive as the core platform that I use it on.  With the costs of everything else going through the roof, the increase certainly feels dramatic.  I thought my mortgage/gas and electric were dramatic, but even they haven't doubled.

The monthly payment was perfect when you're small business owner as income tends to fluctuate week to week, never mind annually.  Paying annually to keep the price low really isn't an option for some of us, especially during economic crises.

Also as I understand it, I now qualify for Phoenix.  A program which I spent roughly £350 on a few months ago.  Does that mean I qualify for a refund for the months remaining before my annual renewal of Phoenix?

[steyin]

Yeah not worth another $200 a year just to be able to use Corona on home & office computer. I don't use any of the other Chaos features either, so I'll be downgrading.

[JoachimArt]

That is 7 years without any price increase at all, including keeping no increase with Corona 8 - had we made more frequent smaller increases over that time, then this would not seem so dramatic now.

And of course this is not a "price increase" anyway, as it is a shift in what the Corona license is, given that it now comes with extra tools and functionality (which would have been much more expensive bought separately, if you wanted to get into such math).

I completely agree that the price needs to change over time for you to make money and that is only fair. But could you not at least have a in-between service instead of shoving a ton of features Chaos had ready down our throat to jack up the price. For example something like 350 Euro a year to install it on two computers or for floating...or something.... Phoenix, Player and Scans are all 3 services I would give away to save 10 bucks a a year, as I will never use any of them and are services I never asked for (so it does not matter you think they are services that would be more expensive bought separately, when you do not give us that option)... And a fixed licence for ONE computer is such an outdated system that hardly anyone can use this type of license anymore (most people need at least to be able to work on a laptop and office, or home and office) - so most people are basically forced to buy the Pro package :(

I'm very skeptical as to where this is heading, I feel like I'm being forced to pay for features I don't need and I fear this is just the beginning.

[Jpjapers]

As a director of a small 1-man limited company, I'm a business owner that qualifies for 3ds max indie.  My Corona subscription just became twice as expensive as the core platform that I use it on.  With the costs of everything else going through the roof, the increase certainly feels dramatic.  I thought my mortgage/gas and electric were dramatic, but even they haven't doubled.

The monthly payment was perfect when you're small business owner as income tends to fluctuate week to week, never mind annually.  Paying annually to keep the price low really isn't an option for some of us, especially during economic crises.

Also as I understand it, I now qualify for Phoenix.  A program which I spent roughly £350 on a few months ago.  Does that mean I qualify for a refund for the months remaining before my annual renewal of Phoenix?

I agree with this entirely. Its more per month than an adobe creative cloud subscription (which by the way is a monthly fee but youre locked in for 12 months, which i feel would be a far better system).

Whoever sets the pricing....If you can sell me it at 29.99 a month billed annually, you can sell me it monthly for 29.99 and youre choosing not to. Its bullshit.

Ive been using this since Beta 0.7 and whilst i love the software, it never gets in the way and it is a joy to work with, i hope that this increase in price isn't going to turn into an annual increase. Yeah phoenix is a nice to have but within your core base of archviz users what percentage are using phoenix on a daily basis?

It would have been a better idea to integrate with chaos cloud, and give the users a limited monthly credit allowance rather than a piece of software they might never use. It would probably end up with more people paying for cloud credits in the long run anyway.

The devs are doing a great job. This is no reflection on them.

[fraine7]

Still very confused, so as a long-term monthly subscriber, the email I just received says:

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

New price: 24.99 EUR
Price for first month: 59.90 EUR

I'm in the same boat as DJ_Buckley and many other Corona users (1-man limited company, Max indie license) and this change could not be any more confusing.

I can't work out whether it's just a change to how many times I will be billed per year and will pay the same as usual over the course of 12 months (24.99 EUR x 12 = 299.88 EUR per year)

OR

Am I now paying 59.90 EUR every month (total for the year 59.90 x 12 = 718.80 EUR).

EDIT - There was no mention in the email of paying my usual monthly price but switching to yearly payments

[bastille]

Hi Tom,
you said that if we opt to swap to Solo, we will lose access to Phoenix, Scans, and Player, but the faq says that we lose access to cosmos too?
Is it right?
Pierre

[fraine7]

Hi Tom,
you said that if we opt to swap to Solo, we will lose access to Phoenix, Scans, and Player, but the faq says that we lose access to cosmos too?
Is it right?
Pierre

I have zero requirement for Phoenix, Player or Scans - surely they should have made these 'opt-in' rather than 'opt-out'

[maru]

Still very confused, so as a long-term monthly subscriber, the email I just received says:

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

New price: 24.99 EUR
Price for first month: 59.90 EUR

Hi Tom,
you said that if we opt to swap to Solo, we will lose access to Phoenix, Scans, and Player, but the faq says that we lose access to cosmos too?
Is it right?
Pierre

Please contact our customer support and you will be assisted by the dedicated team ASAP: https://support.chaos.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

[dj_buckley]

The more I sit and think about this, the more scandalous it seems.  We're literally talking about a company (Chaos Group), that made millions of $'s of profit during the pandemic, whilst a lot of us struggled to feed our families, bleeding us dry for even more, just before what is normally the most expensive time of the year for most.  I can't see any reason for the extreme price hike other than pure greed.  When having to cut costs during the pandemic, I prioritised my software subscriptions as outgoings to keep, because I needed them to live off.  It's such a kick in the balls when that loyalty isn't reciprocated.

I couldn't agree with this statement more "If you can sell me it at 29.99 a month billed annually, you can sell me it monthly for 29.99 and youre choosing not to. Its bullshit."

The only reason I can think of why you couldn't manage to do the above, is due to cashflow issues.  But when you're a large corporation and your profits are visible to all, it's clearly not a cashflow thing.

As per usual, those that are worse off, get hit the hardest.

Also who do I speak to regarding the Phoenix licenese I bought recently.  I'm not prepared to pay for it twice.

Okay I hear you, go with Corona Solo - but you've imposed that stupid stupid fixed license rule.  As already mentioned I'm effectively a 1-man operation.  I'm not fixed to one workstation.  So I now need to buy one for my PC and one for my laptop, and one for my other PC that I sometimes work on, depending on what tasks I'm doing.  Which makes it even more expensive than Corona Premium.  Even if I did go with Corona Solo monthly, it's still a 50%+ increase on what I'm currently paying.

How do you guys justify it?  Seriously, someone please justify it for me with the maths ....

What was the point of those surveys you sent out asking about our thoughts on price hikes etc?  Because I'm willing to bet not one single person/company requested a 100% or even 50% price hike on what they were currently paying?

I'm amazed that this thread isn't 100 pages deep full of people complaining, is everybody else happy/pleased with these changes?

Edit: Oh and I just realised that If i switche to the 'cheaper' Corona Solo, I loose my render nodes so have to pay for those (I have 3 pc's rendering at home), so that then becomes even more expensive, whoever has come up with this pricing stategy is very clever and is basically bullying us into an annual Corona Premium sub.