Game Maker 8, last chance to claim FREE upgrades
02 Mar, 2010
The free upgrade period for Game Maker 8 officially expires at the end of March. So anyone who PAID for Game Maker 7 at any time in 2009…you need to upgrade by the end of March if you want to get Game Maker 8 for free.
Posted by sandy
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March 2nd, 2010 at 5:22 pm
I upgraded to GM8 in December from GM7 which I bought in July last year. I now want to buy a new laptop later this year – will I be able to install GM8 on the new laptop or would I have to pay again?
March 2nd, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Oh and is there any news on the instant play for firefox 3.6 and games made with GM8?
March 2nd, 2010 at 5:36 pm
Let’s stay on topic, shall we?
If you got a registration code after upgrading, you should be able to use this code twice, as mentioned in the e-mail with the code.
If you have a valid reason to install it again later, you can always contact the admins through the helpdesk, though I’m not 100% sure what the policy on this is.
March 2nd, 2010 at 7:29 pm
[...] wishing to upgrade a version of Game Maker 7 purchased in 2009 to version 8 for free is at the end the month. Surely anyone who cared about Game Maker would have done this [...]
March 2nd, 2010 at 11:56 pm
Too bad I bought GM7 about two weeks too early. Almost scored a free upgrade. Oh well, the payment for GM8 is almost nothing in comparison to the quality of the program and of the community one receives with it. Stay awesome YoYo Games!
-Taylor Marlow
Ovindu Design Studio
http://www.ovindu.com
March 3rd, 2010 at 12:22 am
I know this is a bit off topic but I would like to point out that the runner ups in the Logo Competition are yet to receive their promised free copies of the new version (or at least I havn’t received mine) I don’t have a much better way to communicate with you so I figured this method will suffice. Let me know any updates on this.
Thanks in advance,
Beneibe
March 3rd, 2010 at 8:55 am
I know this is way of topic, but i downloaded gamemaker 8 off a site for free=D
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:49 am
Mad maker, that site could be ilegal…
March 3rd, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Madmaker, you shouldn’t be reading this blog. Here’s what Sandy has stated earlier:
[quote]On the other hand, if you want to use the Pro version of the software without paying for it, then that’s your decision, but you are making a CLEAR statement that you do not want to be a member of this community. So PLEASE don’t come here to use the forums, the Glog, upload your games or use any other part of the website. Stay away, we don’t want to share our facilities with you here. You are deciding for yourself that you are not part of this community.
Thx, from Sandy and Mark, on behalf of the community.[/quote]
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:10 pm
I have a mac and are waiting for GM4Mac to be released but I do already have a pro edition and code
Will this effect me being able to enter my code in gm4mac and get pro edition? of ether GM7 or GM8??
March 4th, 2010 at 4:40 am
Wait, what? I downloaded GM8 from yoyogames for free.
Or is this like for people wanting GM8 pro because they bought GM7 pro?
March 4th, 2010 at 9:01 am
@dhs122997
GM8 lite is free. Sandy is referring to people who bought GM7 Pro in a certain time period that are currently allowed to transfer that purchase to a GM8 Pro purchase. MadMaker seems to be referring to a site that is hosting a cracked, free GM8 Pro.
@Sandy
Thanks for the reminder? I understand that this comes out of concern for the community, making sure that everyone is good and fully aware of this fact, but the majority of us are more interested in things like Instant Play for Fx3.6 and GM8. It does occur to me, however, that you might have a way to know how many people purchased GM7 during your period and have not upgraded to GM8 yet. Maybe there is a huge yield that you did not reference.
March 4th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
I just have two questions (these might have been answered, as I’ve been away for quite some time):
1. Why is the time limited anyway? If I bought my license in 2009 now, I still have bought it in 2009 in one year. Why are you forced to upgrade before april?
I do aknowledge that it’d be stupid not to, but still, my point(/question) stands.
2. Why not offer the upgrade for anyone who bought GM7 (and not an earlier version)? I may sound like I’m cheap, but I bought my registration back when GM was at
version 5.2, so this wouldn’t even apply to me. GM7 had some bugs that were never fixed by an update (although some where found very quickly), I for one never found it a
problem because GM8 was coming, but now that GM8 is not free, it is a problem. You are forcing people who only want bugs fixed to pay money too, while the error is not on
their side. Just seems unfair to me (even though I already saw this coming when Mark announced that he wasn’t working alone anymore).
I’m still doubting whether to buy GM8 or not because of this concern (I do not want this to happen again, and I am fine with GM7, I’ll have to live with the bugs, I might
be better off waiting for GM293 or w/e).
I still want to say that GameMaker is a great program! But if I have to pay money for bugfixes I’m not going to buy a new version anymore.
March 4th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
I agree the upgrade should go longer than the end of march. But about not wanting to pay at all, you guys really need to look at the last blog, about the costs of keeping it going.
Builder K,
March 4th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
The end of march is also the deadline for competition 5 – a coincidence?
March 4th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
By the way, I want to point out just how many are using GM8 for their games now – nearly all of the competition games are made with GM8. Just goes to show that many people have been making the most out of this great offer!
March 4th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
@Builder K: I understand there are high costs. I’ve wondered why GM7 was free when that was released (after I saw the YoYo Games website).
Nevertheless, they never fixed the bugs that where found immediately (mostly problems with Windows Vista). WHY would the same thing not happen over and over again? It’s a good (and very unfair) way of forcing people to keep buying…
If I pay money (even when the price is not high), I expect to get at least basic bug fixes for free. And having to pay for actual new features is normal of course. But I don’t have a choice here… If I want the bug-fixes I have to buy GM8.
The programmer’s errors (the bugs) are used to make money. As long as bugfixes will be done for free, or I can at least get a guarantee that GM9 (or w/e next major version will be released) will be free for people who buy GM8, I have no problems buying GM8.
I do not mind paying €15-25* for GameMaker, but if they don’t even take the trouble to bugfix their releases before making a new version and charging money again, why would I buy it?
I really mean no offence and I DO like GameMaker, but I don’t like having to pay for bugfixes or not having patches at all and having to buy a newer version. Besides, it is wrong that some who payed for GM7 have to pay for GM8, and some don’t (depending on when they bought it). They bought the exact same product, but they get different things for their money.
I’m sorry, it’s just the way I feel.
Again, if I’d be sure that at least any bugs other than minor ones get fixed without having to buy GM9, I’d buy GameMaker right now.
*I have no clue what the price is nowadays.
March 4th, 2010 at 11:55 pm
Also, is it possible to edit comments on the blog?
Anyway, let me just fix this:
Nevertheless, they never fixed the bugs that WERE found immediately.
I typed “where” instead of “were”
March 5th, 2010 at 9:46 am
I’ll update you on FF 3.6 and Instant Play next week. We’ve mapde a couple of very important ires (update coming) which means we’ll make progress on a lot of stuff more quickly now….
@benelbe raise a ticket for me on heldesk and I’ll sort out your missing coupon….
March 5th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Hey sandy don’t forget instant play for GM8 as well as firefox 3.6
March 6th, 2010 at 4:21 am
@thoroxai,
I agree, it is not fair that some bugs were not fixed in gm7, but yoyogames can only work on so many things at once, they were probably working on the instant play, or on gm8 at the time. Also, the reason new versions are better than old ones, is mostly because of changes, including bug fixes.
About paying for the new version, it is ridiculously inexpensive, and most, if not all people will gladly pay for the new one.
The reason some people get free upgrades is that anyone who bought gm7 the day before gm8 came out, will be extreemly anoyed with it, and forcing them to buy the new version would be silly.
Builder K,
March 6th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
@Builder K:
I understand that YoYoGames were busy with other things. I have no trouble with that at all, my problem is whether it will happen again or not. I agree that GM is not expensive (and even that it is [indeed] inexpensive), but I’m not going to keep buying new versions forever. In fact I’m pretty sure GM8 will be the last version I buy, and I don’t want to have to buy GM9 or 10 because of (possible) bugs.
I understand the reason for the free upgrades, but again: someone who has bought GM7 on December 31st gets less for his money than someone who bought it one day later, which is unfair, as they bought the exact same product.
When anyone who buys GM7 gets a free GM8, and everyone who bought GM6 doesn’t, that’d be a lot better: different products were bought. I don’t want to buy GM8 now to find out that most of the people who bought it after me will get a free upgrade to GM9 and I won’t.
March 6th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
[...] YoYo Games Blog [...]
March 6th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
@Thoroxai
Getting GM8 for free is a courtesy that YYG is performing for those who purchased GM7 recently and nothing more. Where they choose to draw the line is completely up to them and, no matter where it is, it is fair. What if they just drew the line back one day? That’s really not that much. What if they drew it back one more day? A day isn’t all that much. One more day? It isn’t that much!
You could go on like that until people who bought GM1 were to receive GM8 too.
I understand where you come from on bug-fixes, and it’s probably true that patches should have come out. However, GM8 comes with several new features and is, as such, a new product.
I wonder, are you going to stick with XP or Vista, or whatever OS you’re running for the rest of your life? The new OS’s, as well as having new features, contain several bug fixes from the previous OS that were not all covered in service packs.
This is a pretty standard business model for computer software. I had to pay for Adobe CS4 when I had CS3 and only wanted CS4 to fix a few things that I thought didn’t work as they should. You’ll see the same thing with pretty much any good for-purchase software.
March 6th, 2010 at 11:59 pm
well, it WOULD be more fair if only people who bought GM7 could free upgrade it to GM8, and people who bough GM8 coul upgrade it to GM9 and so on. the key word is BOUGHT, so what i mean is, people who bought the last version could upgrade for free, but the people who ugraded to the last version had to still but the new version.
March 7th, 2010 at 12:01 am
err, wow, i should probobly proof read before i post…. anyways, what i meant is, people who upgraded to GM7 still have to buy the new version, GM8, but the people who bought GM7 should be able to upgrade to GM8 for free. im not saying continuously, but the beople who actually BOUGHT the last version should be able to upgrade versions once.
March 7th, 2010 at 12:34 am
But that means you basically want 2 versions for the price of one? YoYo is selling a product and needs to make profit somehow! It can’t offer “buy one get one free” on all versions of game maker!
March 7th, 2010 at 8:07 am
You aren’t buying GM8 with GM9. You didn’t buy GM7 with GM8. Fair is getting only what you paid for. Nice is getting something extra because of special circumstances and a company being generous.
March 7th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
I see your point(s), and I agree. But with the OSes, the bad bugs are usually fixed with Service Packs (or even normal updates). GM7 was never patched, and that’s the reason I feel it is unfair for the people who have to pay for GM8, while they bought GM7. The point I’m trying to make here is that GM8 should be bugfixed if they are going to charge people for GM9.
GM7 had some really bad and/or annoying bugs (such as http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=384278, which would make your game not work for about 15 minutes, and that GM was a pain in the (…) to run on Vista).
These bugs were never fixed, while practically crippling the whole program… And then you charge people who bought that for the new version? Don’t tell me that that’s fair. I agree, they have the right, but I strongly disagree about it being fair.
March 7th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
zaleronde and player 2,
If yoyogames really wanted to do the “two for one” thing, they would simply double game maker’s price. That way, yoyogames would make the same money. The problem is, that makes it to expensive for most people, I think they are doing the smartest thing.
Builder K,
March 16th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
It’s not the end of March yet, and my code doesn’t work.
March 23rd, 2010 at 6:14 pm
I entered my code and got gm8 pro,
but I never got a confirmation email. Should I have?
March 28th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Kind of off topic, but I have a few questions. Me and my friend tried to purchase game maker 8 pro yesterday and this is what happened:
1. We typed in all the correct and valid info.
2. We checked the box marked “I agree with EULA or whatever”
3. We clicked the next button.
4. A few dots appeared on the screen for a bit.
5. We got a technical error.
What happened. Oh and on a side note, can you use the same GM 8 license for 3 different computers?
@Mushroom Kingdom Guy
I don’t think so, you only get confirmation emails confirming your purchase, not every time you use the license, I think…
June 5th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
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