I see that there's been a lot of discussion about whether Anime Studio Version 6 will ever come out or not. It seems that a lot of it is based on an assumption that it would still be free as other updates has been. While free is always good, it would limit the amount of time and money that could be put into the development.
Say that V6 was going to be a full, next-gen update of Anime-Studio, ie fully streamlined for production use, etc. I, for one, would be willing to pay good money for it and I was curious as to whether other current users would as well, or would you continue on using V5.6 unless the next version was completely free?
How much would you be willing to pay for an upgrade to V6?
Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger
-
synthsin75
- Posts: 10267
- Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2008 11:20 pm
- Location: Oklahoma
- Contact:
I would definitely be willing to pay. We can't really expect developement and updates to continue without the funding to do so.
I'd just really like to see AS stay squarely in the game with its competitors. If that means that prices have to increase to do so, then I'll happily continue to support AS.
I'd just really like to see AS stay squarely in the game with its competitors. If that means that prices have to increase to do so, then I'll happily continue to support AS.
It's an interesting question. Cost is going to depend on what a new copy would go for, though. IOW, let's blue sky for a moment and say that e-frontier is willing to try and position AS as a higher tier product, in the $500 range (doubtful they could put it any higher given Toon Boom's feature set). At that price you could definitely charge $200 for a product update to existing users.
However, my hunch (for the benefit of Vern and others, just speculation based on my experience in the industry, which is becoming more and more obsolete the longer my retirement goes :>) is that they won't want to increase the base price of the Pro product much beyond $300, if that. Now, if that's the case, you're not going to be able to make much of a case for more than $100 for your existing users given they've already spent $200 for the initial release. Or, to put it another way, you don't want to penalize someone for buying 5.6 within a year or so of releasing 6.0. (or at least very much.
It's hard to imagine what 6.0 would be worth given no knowledge of the additional features, but I know I'd easily spend $200 tomorrow just to be able to load actions from one bone setup to another. But that's about the only thing I really, really miss. I really don't know if I'd care to spend any money at all if that particular feature wasn't included.
However, my hunch (for the benefit of Vern and others, just speculation based on my experience in the industry, which is becoming more and more obsolete the longer my retirement goes :>) is that they won't want to increase the base price of the Pro product much beyond $300, if that. Now, if that's the case, you're not going to be able to make much of a case for more than $100 for your existing users given they've already spent $200 for the initial release. Or, to put it another way, you don't want to penalize someone for buying 5.6 within a year or so of releasing 6.0. (or at least very much.
It's hard to imagine what 6.0 would be worth given no knowledge of the additional features, but I know I'd easily spend $200 tomorrow just to be able to load actions from one bone setup to another. But that's about the only thing I really, really miss. I really don't know if I'd care to spend any money at all if that particular feature wasn't included.
I for one feel terribly guilty. I often feel like a hypocrite.
I bought Moho for $99. That's it. That was a few years back. I got the free upgrade to AS for Windows. Then Fahim (remember him?) gave me a coupon for a free copy of AS for Mac when I visited e-frontiers booth at a Macworld expo in NYC.
So yes. I would absolutely be willing to pay for an upgrade... within reason. It should be priced to encourage updates without scaring or pissing people off. It has been a while so a paid update isn't out of the question. These guys do have to make a living just like everyone else.
Let's face it... there's nothing that will stop me from getting the upgrade even if I have to sell one of my livers*.
-vern
*I keep an extra one in a jar. He wasn't using it anyway.
I bought Moho for $99. That's it. That was a few years back. I got the free upgrade to AS for Windows. Then Fahim (remember him?) gave me a coupon for a free copy of AS for Mac when I visited e-frontiers booth at a Macworld expo in NYC.
So yes. I would absolutely be willing to pay for an upgrade... within reason. It should be priced to encourage updates without scaring or pissing people off. It has been a while so a paid update isn't out of the question. These guys do have to make a living just like everyone else.
Let's face it... there's nothing that will stop me from getting the upgrade even if I have to sell one of my livers*.
-vern
*I keep an extra one in a jar. He wasn't using it anyway.
Actually, that's a good point. Like you, I've only ever paid $99 for my continuing Anime Studio experience. I imagine that people like us would much more willing to pay a substantial amount for an upgrade than someone who has just forked out $199 for V5.6.heyvern wrote:I for one feel terribly guilty. I often feel like a hypocrite.
I bought Moho for $99. That's it. That was a few years back. I got the free upgrade to AS for Windows. Then Fahim (remember him?) gave me a coupon for a free copy of AS for Mac when I visited e-frontiers booth at a Macworld expo in NYC.
So yes. I would absolutely be willing to pay for an upgrade... within reason. It should be priced to encourage updates without scaring or pissing people off. It has been a while so a paid update isn't out of the question. These guys do have to make a living just like everyone else.
Let's face it... there's nothing that will stop me from getting the upgrade even if I have to sell one of my livers*.
-vern
*I keep an extra one in a jar. He wasn't using it anyway.
Rudiger,
I would hope there would be some kind of date for free updates. If you purchased with a reasonable amount of time they shouldn't charge for it. I was actually a teeny tiny bit surprised Moho owners didn't have to pay the for 5.6 upgrade. Sure there weren't a ton of new features but there were a few and some bug fixes... a few dollars wouldn't have killed us and it might have helped with development.
I always worry about my highfalutin, self righteous rants about AS features and... all it cost me was $99 like.... 3 years ago. I don't have a leg to stand on really.
But you know... that's the distributors fault to be honest. Obviously there are some devoted fans of the product who would be willing to spend a bit of money here and there for updates... if that keeps them coming more regular. Maybe a subscription model would work? Like Hash uses. Only around $75 bucks for a years use of Animation Master. Of course they put out a new version every year. Just a thought.
-vern
I would hope there would be some kind of date for free updates. If you purchased with a reasonable amount of time they shouldn't charge for it. I was actually a teeny tiny bit surprised Moho owners didn't have to pay the for 5.6 upgrade. Sure there weren't a ton of new features but there were a few and some bug fixes... a few dollars wouldn't have killed us and it might have helped with development.
I always worry about my highfalutin, self righteous rants about AS features and... all it cost me was $99 like.... 3 years ago. I don't have a leg to stand on really.
But you know... that's the distributors fault to be honest. Obviously there are some devoted fans of the product who would be willing to spend a bit of money here and there for updates... if that keeps them coming more regular. Maybe a subscription model would work? Like Hash uses. Only around $75 bucks for a years use of Animation Master. Of course they put out a new version every year. Just a thought.
-vern
-
synthsin75
- Posts: 10267
- Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2008 11:20 pm
- Location: Oklahoma
- Contact:
I don't really see the sense in this poll. How much would I pay for a something with undefined content? Nothing.
I wouldn't like to be in a situation where I need to pay for an update with mostly useless features. If S-M reads this thread, they may actually come to think "Hey, they're willing to spend another 100 bucks - let's put in more crappy pre-made artwork and a selection of cheap MIDI tunes and call iut a major update!"
IMO the "wanted features" section is a much better place for this. Let's tell them what we really want, then they could implement it and make an offer. I have a whole list of functions I really could use.
I wouldn't like to be in a situation where I need to pay for an update with mostly useless features. If S-M reads this thread, they may actually come to think "Hey, they're willing to spend another 100 bucks - let's put in more crappy pre-made artwork and a selection of cheap MIDI tunes and call iut a major update!"
IMO the "wanted features" section is a much better place for this. Let's tell them what we really want, then they could implement it and make an offer. I have a whole list of functions I really could use.
I see what you're saying, slowtiger, and I understand that it's all very hypothetical. Don't worry though, I'm pretty sure this poll isn't legally binding and you won't necessarily be forced to pay the amount you voted for, should a new version ever come out. It's just that I think that the topic of which features should be in the new version has already been discussed to death. I mean how many pages is the top-ten requested features thred up to now? What I was more curious about is whether current users are keen enough for some of these possible improvements to cough up some dough for them. In any case, I think we can all imagine what a major update would be. Something like Poser6 to Poser7 would be a good example. Certainly not just a few nice features and some extra content.slowtiger wrote:I don't really see the sense in this poll. How much would I pay for a something with undefined content? Nothing.
I wouldn't like to be in a situation where I need to pay for an update with mostly useless features. If S-M reads this thread, they may actually come to think "Hey, they're willing to spend another 100 bucks - let's put in more crappy pre-made artwork and a selection of cheap MIDI tunes and call iut a major update!"
IMO the "wanted features" section is a much better place for this. Let's tell them what we really want, then they could implement it and make an offer. I have a whole list of functions I really could use.
In fact if you see what Poser has become since the toy it started out as, the mind boggles as to what AnimeStudio could become if Mike followed the same model.
-
blacksunproject
- Posts: 102
- Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 6:45 am
Re: How much would you be willing to pay for an upgrade to V
I have V5.6Rudiger wrote:I see that there's been a lot of discussion about whether Anime Studio Version 6 will ever come out or not. It seems that a lot of it is based on an assumption that it would still be free as other updates has been. While free is always good, it would limit the amount of time and money that could be put into the development.
Say that V6 was going to be a full, next-gen update of Anime-Studio, ie fully streamlined for production use, etc. I, for one, would be willing to pay good money for it and I was curious as to whether other current users would as well, or would you continue on using V5.6 unless the next version was completely free?
I'll pay $100.00 for an upgrade.
I think you're holding your chart upside down!chucky wrote:57.25 Australian Pesos?
That is 100 bucks!
Anyway, I think if you live in Australia, you should probably give up buying American products altogether!
Perhaps if we convince Smith-Micro to relocate out here.I know it's perfectly logical to say, I would pay $300 if it had $300 worth of features, etc, but is it that hard to imagine what features Anime Studio needs at the moment? In fact, it doesn't really need that many new features at all, just a tidy up and streamlining of the existing features would be enough for v6.
