How do you expect tools developers to survive?

General Feedback & Requests
,
1

I’m honestly supprised I need to ask this of Epic since you know Epic is a tool/platform developer that has a recurring revenue model to support the ongoing development and maintenance of its tools and platform.

But here we are.

So FAB is a … theoretically … professional marketplace where persons and studios can license content and tools for various engines.

With no way to for publishers to do Paid Major Update, Maintenance Subscription, or any other mechanism by which publishers can monetize the on going cost of development and support. How is it that Epic envisions tool developers will survive on FAB?

I expect that everyone understands that
pay once and get life time support and lifetime updates is NOT a viable business model. It costs to maintain and continuously refine and develop tools and systems. This is NOT a consumer market where there are always new customers who only consume static or disposable products.

This is a professional market, where customers should expect that software tools and systems will receive regular updates, where support is provided and is timely and professional. That means a tool or system on FAB should be expected to include the “services” of

  • On Going Development
  • Technical Support

And in order to do that a publisher will HAVE to monetize that.

In other stores the solution is usually

  • Paid Major Update

So for example every X time period a Major update is released basically a yearly or bianual subscription. This is a bandade from stores that like FAB failed to realise the software requires recurring cost/support and thus recurring costs.

The correct answer is to enable publishers to offer a range of services

  • Paid Major Updates
  • Maintenance Plans aka Subscription Models

and if your really high speed

  • On-demand paid support

This would mean more trust for customers and more revenue for FAB as it would be the administrating factor here taking its cut and providing a degree of consumer protection e.g. refunds, fixed dispute channel, etc.

Crying about the concept of subscription?

1st off that trash that Adobe, Unity and others have done to you where you subscribe but if you ever cancel everything is taken away and you cant use what you had.

Ya that is not a Subscription that is SaaS (Software as a Service) and its bull crap …
Subscription or Maintaince is where you have a perpetual license to the software e.g. its yours to keep FOREVER … and you get updates and support … these are actual services … for the period and terms you “subscribed” to.

So if you only need a month of support while your getting your product over the line … fine … sub up for a month … done

You on boarding new staff or new to a tool … want a year of support and updates … no problem sub up for a year and there you go.

The license e.g. ability to keep using the tool DOES NOT go away when a subscription ends … that non-since is SaaS and should die in a hole … maintenance plans, service subscriptions, “SLA” (service level agreements) e.g. are not that and should NOT induce PTSD in your CTO/CFO its how reality works. Support and updates DO cost money to provide and create and that SERVICE has a recurring cost.

Rather you pay that recurring cost by purchasing/upgrading on the next Major version (basically a yearly subscription)

OR

You pay a monthly fee … its still a recurring cost

FAB must provide a means for that and ideally, it would provide publishers and customers the option to offer multiple models.

But at current it doesn’t

So Epic … how is it you expect tools and systems developers to survive on FAB?

Should we be directing anyone who purchases on FAB to purchase an SLA from us directly cutting you out of the equation … or would you like to offer a complete professional marketplace?

2

I was wondering if it was possible to be pay an different (probably redeemable) price for each version of an game template. Such as an basic product with just the bare minimum would run for $25, and each update that adds anything substantial to it will cost the returning customer around $5-10 when a completely new client would have to pay $30-35, in this case.

Although given Epic’s recent track record for web design and an lack of guidelines regarding this kind of stuff, I’m not exactly confident about them changing their pricing scheme

3

That is how a “Paid Major Update” works in Unity Asset Store for example

When you create a “Major Upgrade” in UAS you select the prior version and can define an upgrade discount as well as a grace period

So for example, if you purchased the prior version within 90 days (it is configurable) then you get the next for free else you get the next for $20 or whatever discounted amount you want to do

This is actually really handy in that it means you can set up bundles as well

for example, you can sale an asset that is empty but that by owning that asset it makes other assets free. It is a simple system and it is not perfect … ideally, we would have a subscription option … but worst case a Major Update and Lite Version option is a MUST

Without something, FAB is a dead stick.

4

I think we definitely see the value in having something like Paid Major Upgrade or equivalent, and totally understand the need, but it is something that that requires prerequisite functionality. To work towards this I think we need to better highlight updates on products, better version management, and things like changelogs, and then eventually maybe indeed prices per version or some form of upgrade path.

So personally I am supportive but the reality is that we have a lot to improve to get to parity with UE Marketplace/Megascans/Sketchfab first, and I can see it take a while before we can get to this I am afraid.

1 Like
5

Do understand that means tools developers cannot really use FAB then.

Right now we have the issue that our next major is already released on Unity Asset Store and already available to our GitHub Sponsors and Patreons but FAB has NO facility at all for us to release to the FAB users.

… we could release a new tool however that would mean existing users are forced to pay full price again and that is not correct. They should be paying the “Upgrade” price which for us is 20% of the base price.

Ideally FAB would enable a subscription option, it is the superior option by a mile but Paid Major … isn’t a nice to have … that is a bare minimum requirement for us and any tools developer to be on FAB properly.

FAB at the moment isn’t fit for purpose. It is at most a somewhat questionable source for stock art. I understand Epic put its foot in it with this whole merge and that must be a massive pain for your team to work through. But understand that without some means to do updates FAB might as well not exist at all.

1 Like