Game Maker 8 Pricing and Availability
I’ve read too many comments in various places on and off the website about price increases for GM8. I don’t know why, but it looks as though someone is spreading a malicious rumour. Any talk of a price increase for GM8 are ABSOLUTE RUBBISH. THE PRICE OF GAME MAKER 8 WILL BE $25, which is the same as GM7.
I’m less certain about the launch date. Mark has recently released the second release candidate so this means we’re very close to having a final product.
The main thing we have to do now is to get the updates finished to the website. We are currently testing the first phase of this which is a major upgrade to the website infrastructure.
The first of these is to update the architecture of the site. Since we launched the site almost 3 years ago the Ruby on Rails framework (more info here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_on_Rails) which we rely on has moved along significantly. Unfortunately we didn’t keep pace with the incremental changes published for Rails and have left ourselves a big task to catch up. We’ve now done this, but it has effectively meant an almost complete review of the website with almost every page requiring some changes. When we release this update the site won’t look any different, but it should get rid of most of the performance bottlenecks we experience, particularly at weekends when the site is busiest.
Second thing we need to do is to finish the work we’ve been doing to create a distribution system to replace Softrwap. I know some of you have experienced difficulties with the way Softwrap’s DRM works and others just hate the idea of having a DRM at all. There are even some of you who have had no issues and don’t care about DRMs but hate Softwrap because it’s been fashionable to do so !!
What most of you don’t see is Softrwap provide us with a decent bunch of tools to correct most of the (very few) issues quickly and most importantly they provide YOU with a reasonable process for buying Game Maker. SO…it is taking a fair bit of time for us to rewrite some of this functionality and especially to test it to make sure it works properly from Day 1. This has taken a lot longer than we would have liked and today I simply don’t know when this will be finished. As soon as we know a date we’ll tell you and THAT will also mean the date when we can “Launch” Game Maker 8 properly. Worth noting that the new Beta expires end of December….so it would be nice not to have a third Release Candidate just because of this !!!
We appreciate your patience.
18 Responses to “Game Maker 8 Pricing and Availability”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
November 21st, 2009 at 10:42 am
[...] Games’ Sandy Duncan has confirmed that Game Maker 8 will sell for the same price as its predecessor Game Maker 7 – $25. Of [...]
November 21st, 2009 at 11:48 am
Hah, just so you know, I believe it was you guys who started the rumour about an increased price for GameMaker.
http://glog.yoyogames.com/?p=486
November 21st, 2009 at 1:50 pm
@LostOverThere:
Hah, that’s what I wanted to say when I read this post. The first section of this post seemed like a big ranting, though they actually more or less did that themselves. -_-’
November 21st, 2009 at 2:54 pm
It’s nice to hear some news about gm8 and gm for mac, I’m looking forward for the final version of both of them.
Good luck updating rails, since I use rails a lot for my work, I know it’s a pain to update from older versions, especially from version 1 to version 2, but it’s really worth the effort (especially in terms of performance)
November 21st, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I was not too concerned over a price increase, but it is nice to hear that there won’t be one. =P Softwrap was always nice to me, but the service was obviously confusing to many. It is probably best you are getting rid of it. I would like to see not needing the internet/phone for activation, but theses days it is understandable why companies have to do this. Thefts of $25 dollar software, *turns head in shame.* Everybody needs to remember that Yoyo Games needs to make money somehow.
November 21st, 2009 at 6:11 pm
I’m glad that you (the GM developers) are taking the time to come up with a new licensing system that will hopefully address the concerns people have about Softwrap.
To that end, I sincerely hope the GM8 licensing system will have a user-centric focus instead of being machine locked, as I personally own 4 computers (a notebook, a netbook, and 2 desktops) and I want to be able to run my legal copy of GM8 on all of them. The DRM in GM7 won’t allow me to do that and I find it very frustrating.
I accept the reality that some kind of licensing system is necessary for commercial software, but no matter how cleverly invasive or overbearing it may be, it will always get cracked shortly after its released. So, as always, the only people who really suffer from its effects are those who decide to buy their software legally.
Fortunately, the industry’s fascination with DRM seems to be slowly fading as they see that it just doesn’t do what its supposed to. I hope the GM developers also realize this.
Thanks for listening, and for making a great product.
November 21st, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Some of us understand that replacing Softwrap is a big undertaking. But, that shouldn’t matter. What we see is thousands of other software out there with DRM that works right. If you’re going to do a big job, don’t complain about its size. That’s what you signed up for. You will, inevitably, be compared to your colleagues. When you don’t compare, people get mad and don’t support. You may not like it, but that’s currently the way the world works.
November 21st, 2009 at 9:33 pm
@Jak Hak – Who is complaining here? YYG is just explaining that it’s a big job so that people will stop hassling them about a release date.
Man, some of you guys need to just take it easy. The software will be out when it’s ready. They’re working hard on it. Give them a break!
November 22nd, 2009 at 1:48 am
I agree, it’s better to tie those loose-ends now, than worry about them later.Also you all seen those bug report floods over at 8Beta site, it’s not easy fixing all those bugs and at the same time pleasing the masses.Practice some patience, it will surely be rewarded with gm8.
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:16 am
Sandy, thank you for this most useful update. I am (and I’m sure many others are) always interested in knowing what’s happening.
“”" it would be nice not to have a third Release Candidate “”"
Not to be a party pooper, but I’d like to see a 3rd release candidate so that we can test the changes Mark made to the import/export system (by exporting then importing relatively large projects and assuring everything is still in order). I understand he’s most likely fixed the issues as he said but this is something I am genuinely concerned about.
November 22nd, 2009 at 3:17 pm
The pricing is *very* fair for Game Maker, most other companies would charge a much higher price for its functionality, world wide use and support.
I have to admit, that I don’t like the DRM implementation in version 7.0. I unfortunately had a PC die on me and upgraded to another. I was able to re-activate Game Maker once, but after the second time on the *new* PC. It was like, one strike and your out ! Softwrap didn’t respond at all, after re-activating the license the one time. It wasn’t until I purchased another license, that Game Maker 7 worked again ! So, in my experience, DRM in this sense, is completely pointless and useless ! Unless two licenses are running concurrently ( twice ), then it shouldn’t matter how many times you activate it ! The older key system is better and more flexible for the user.
To be honest, if Game Maker is cracked ( like all software ), then that’s the way it is. As long as there are users that want to pay and use ( best value for money ) Game Maker, then that should be good for us all ! Yeah ! Loving and supporting Game Makers use since v5.3a !
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:44 pm
I completely agree with themightyaxle I want to be able to reactivate GM8 as many time as needed preferably offline.
I still use gm5 because I can install it on any machine and I only need a serial number to activate it brill.
November 28th, 2009 at 4:06 am
i think it should be free i hate paying stuff i can get from a store they have this one thing where you can make games even easier just to say this is just a little program that you make games your not shopping………….
November 28th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
It’s increased from the last two times I’ve had to pay for it then. I wouldn’t mind paying a third time if I truly believed Yoyo Games to be doing a good job of things but after supporting you guys when you first started I’ve just lost more and more confidence in the way you’re handling what was my favorite piece of computing software.
December 4th, 2009 at 11:45 am
just out of interest, have you already kicked softwrap?
GM Pro had expired, but about one hour later it was back. Sorry if I don’t truly understand the way everything works…
December 4th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Will it also be 25 $ for those of us, who have already bought Game Maker 7, or will there be a special upgrade price?
December 9th, 2009 at 8:33 am
I’m probably wrong, but i always thought gamemaker 7 was only $20…
December 18th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
So, no upgrade price? I mean, we knew no free upgrade, but not even the slightest generosity? Well that’s fine. Guess I won’t be buying Game Maker 8. It’s not like it’s much better than GM7 anyway. Plus, I’m sure it’ll be cracked quickly. YoYo Games couldn’t make a decent activation system that couldn’t be cracked if they tried. Yes, most programs are crackable, but some aren’t.