No more free upgrades to perpetual licences of ZBrush
Pixologic‘s policy of providing indefinite free upgrades to users with perpetual licences of ZBrush has ended.
Anyone who bought a licence of the digital sculpting software before 29 December 2021 will get free upgrades for one year following the purchase; anyone who bought after that date will get no free upgrades.
The change follows Maxon‘s acquisition of the firm, which was also completed on 29 December 2021.
Free upgrades to ZBrush ended on 29 December 2021
The change in ZBrush upgrade policy was widely expected, following the announcement last month that Maxon was to acquire the assets of Pixologic pending regulatory approval.
Pixologic’s policy of providing perpetual licence holders with continuous free upgrades – in place since the first version of ZBrush was released in 1999 – was, not surprisingly, very popular with users.
However, it was clearly unsustainable indefinitely, since funding for future development effectively depended on continuous growth of the ZBrush user base, which became harder to achieve as the market matured.
The timing of the change coincides with the completion of the acquisition.
A support page on the Pixologic website says that “the ZBrush software and the team behind has joined Maxon, effective December 29, 2021”.
The text goes on to state that “no free upgrades will be included for customers who purchased a perpetual license after December 29, 2021”.
Perpetual licences themselves will continue to be available
The support page provides better news for fans of perpetual licences with a categorical statement that “perpetual licenses will continue”.
When the acquisition was first announced, Pixologic’s online FAQs only stated that the firm anticipated that this would be the case.
Updated 12 January 2022: Maxon has now posted more detailed FAQs about the buyout.
Although perpetual licence holders will no longer get free upgrades, they will still receive bug fixes, and anyone previously eligible to upgrade to ZBrush 2022, the current release, will still be able to do so.
Pricing and availability
The latest version of ZBrush, ZBrush 2022, is available for 64-bit Windows Vista+ and macOS 10.14+. New perpetual licences cost $895; subscriptions cost $39.95/month or $179.95 for six months.
Find more details of the new ZBrush upgrade policy on Pixologic’s website
Read Pixologic’s online documentation on ZBrush’s transition to Maxon