Read more about cracks of Chaos Corona and its impact on us.
“… if we kill the dev there would be nothing to crack.”
We want to talk openly about the effect that cracked versions have on our company, and on the product you love – Corona Renderer.
Most companies don’t share their sales information, and that leaves the impact of piracy like a “he–said–she–said” argument, with no facts to support either side. If you know anything about us as a company, then you’ll know we like do things differently – so we’re going to share information that other companies keep quiet about.
It’s frequently said that those who use cracked software don’t count as lost sales, as those were people who would never have bought the software anyway. Or it’s said that a cracked version acts as great advertising for the product and increases sales, exposing it to more potential buyers.
The data we have shows otherwise, though.
When Corona 1.1 was released in 2015, a cracked version followed within weeks. We did see the same number of demo users converting to paid licenses after the crack was in the wild, but we also saw a 25% drop in our revenue right as the cracked version hit the net. A large part of this was through cancelled subscriptions – actual existing customers dropping paid subscription plans.
That directly contradicts the two often–quoted arguments about using cracked versions, that users of cracked versions would never be a paying customer anyway, and that it acts as great advertising for the product.
Imagine what changes you’d have to make to your life if your income dropped by 25% in the space of a few weeks. For us as a company, that was the loss of money we had intended to use to hire an additional two developers for other plugins and a certain smaller application related to Corona Renderer that we had in the works.
This shows there was a very real impact on you, our users – a set of plugins and a related application got delayed, and no–one got to use them whether they were a paying customer or not, all as a direct consequence of a cracked version being available.
Other companies may be afraid to share that kind of information, but we want to let you know exactly how this affects us – and as a result, how it affects you.
We do understand, and even agree with, some of the logic behind people turning to cracked versions. Our solution isn’t to preach, take out lawsuits, or introduce physical dongles that punish legitimate users as much (or more!) than someone using a cracked version – our solution is to address the pricing concerns that people face in the first place.
Few companies these days keep an earlier version available at no charge, few companies make their current version available for as long as 30 days with no restriction on the tools or what you do with them, and few companies let you use an educational license to take on commercial work – but we do, as we understand the challenges of today’s financial climate, and the differences in income across the globe.
We’re fighting the same battle as those who make cracked versions – that is, to make professional, high–end tools available to as many people as possible, whether they are hobbyists, students or industry pros, and whether they come from a high–salary part of the world or not.
The only difference is that we want to win that battle in a way that keeps Corona Renderer growing and improving.
We know for some, cracking software is just what they do and we won’t change their minds, as for them it’s about the challenge regardless of the pricing. However, we know most of you want to be legitimate users, able to take on your own paid work from legitimate clients either now or in the future, and we want to make that possible for you.
As a last note, we’d also like to say that we are in this job because we love doing it. We love seeing the work you create with the tools we put into your hands! That’s why we make Corona.
The simple truth is that legitimate licensing is the only thing that allows us to keep improving Corona Renderer – so give us your support in revolutionizing access to high–end rendering.
We’re always happy to talk with you about your situation and thoughts on pricing, licensing and accessibility to our product, so let us know what you think. Understanding what makes people turn to cracked versions is important for us to know if we’re to make sure Corona is a product that you’d rather pay for than crack, so feel free to get in touch!
