Can I publish a game that uses the 20 ccu free license model?

Derpl95
2020-09-19 13:14:40

I'm currently developing a small game as a free time project and i want to add online multiplayer using the Photon Cloud mathcmaking system. Since the game is very small i'm expecting 20 ccu to be sufficient for my needs.

I found this section in the Photon license terms:

"1.5 Free and Trial License Types [...] Customer acknowledges and agrees that under a Trial Software License Customer may not directly or indirectly use the Licensed Products or any part thereof with or for a Customer Application, video game or software modification or other variant of a software application, video game or software that changes some aspects or one aspect of this Customer Application/ software application/video game/software (each a “Mod”). Exit Games reserves the right to discontinue free or trial versions of the Licensed Products and/or to terminate a Trial Software License at any time and for any reason"

The free 20 ccu license is advertised like it can be used for published products aswell, but this section of the terms makes it seem like this license is ONLY for internal testing and that it's against terms of service to publicly release an app under this license.
Eventhough I'm expecting small traffic, I am planning to release my game to Steam and the Google Play store.

Is it legal to publish my game under the free 20 ccu license or will I have to worry about Exit Games threatening to shut down my online functionality if I don't upgrade to a different plan?

Comments

Derpl95
2020-09-19 13:17:50

correction: this question is about PUN, i put it in the BOLT category by accident. I can't seem to adjust it though...

ramonmelo
2020-09-22 11:33:06

Hello @Derpl95 ,

We are glad that you are interested in using Photon Products.
On our page about pricing (https://www.photonengine.com/en-US/PUN/pricing) it's clearly stated that the Free Plan is "perfect for evaluation and development", as it's mainly focused on getting you started using our services without the need to pay anything upfront, free with all features enabled, so you can evaluate if the solution is the right choice for your needs.

As stated on the Photon License, we are completely free to discontinue and terminate Trial Licence if necessary.

--
Ramon Melo
Photon Bolt Team

playerDotName
2020-09-22 13:29:04

I'll add my two cents to this. My expectation is that I will publish the game with the free tier. It'll cap at X users per month and you just won't have the ability to have more than that.

So you'll start paying PUN when you hit that cap. Then you'll pay them more when you hit the next cap.

Ramon can correct me if I'm wrong.
Suitable for ˜ 8 k MAU
500 Msg/s per Room
Up to 16 Peers per Room
Includes 60.0 GB Traffic
CCU Burst not included

8K MAU is monthly active users. You can clearly see your limitations here. CCU burst means they won't allow you to pay back if you go over the cap... they'll just block you from going over the cap. Burst allows you to "burst" the cap, and make up the difference later on.

So as long as you're not doing a chat service, your code is optimized for lowest transmission rate, and you don't expect 8K monthly active users, you'll be fine publishing with the free version.

The moment you hit these limits, though, you'll need to start paying PUN or you won't have any more room to grow users.

yeren
2021-08-27 01:55:17

The photon is free to use for up to 100 simultaneous connections (players that are connected at the same time). If not stated otherwise, you may not utilize free or trial licenses for commercial reasons. Each trial and free license can only be used on one machine at a time. The free package that includes a variety of demos, pre-written scripts, and reference material. Exports to almost every platform. This is cool for making a game I think, but I only play LoL at the moment. Had to take a short break because of the ban, but now, thanks to lolfinity, I got a new account.

Markus
2021-08-27 10:44:57

There are some mixups in that last comment (by yeren) here.
The free 100 ccu license is for Photon Server (self hosted) - this license is for development and must not be used commercially.

For Photon Cloud the free 20 ccu plan is meant for development - so to commercially release a game you would at least need the 100 ccu plan (one time payment).

Markus
2022-04-19 06:41:59

It still works the same way.

And please do not spam @zzooidsa