True, but the industry will not mind paying a pricy Maxon subscription, and I guess that’s what they’ll ultimately aim for to earn back their investment. Small-scale freelancers will mind. I predict another exodus to Blender, like the many 3ds Max users that have left that pricy ship (including myself).
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At some point it was bound to cost something, no ? what’s even their business model you reckon ?
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Nail >> Head
It’s also very meaningless since the ball is no longer in their court.
When did Maxon ever offer something affordable for freelancers?
Never?
Hell, Maxon is MORE expensive than Autodesk (while delivering LESS in exchange).
That’s the positive side of it. ZBrush is basically feature complete, the majority of users actually don’t really need updates. You’ll probably can continue to use the current version for the next 5-10 years without missing much.
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IMHO with poorly recieved latest C4D release (reading thread on Core4D was fun) this acquisition only shows how much Maxon is really interested in developing cutting edge software and how much in making those sweet dollariños.
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Yeah, and apparently it paid off, looking at their big acquisitions. 
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Their parent company always had deep pockets - the problem is when they have to take something out of it - I can’t explain the state of C4d otherwise.
If they can buy Pixologic and ZBrush why can’t they buy good programmers & developers that can get their 3D software up to snuff. After 10 years of “core” rewrites its still this niche thing for commercial throwaway graphics.
What gives? 
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A comment from Modo forums:
But it could have been much worse … Zbrush could have joined forces with the Foundry
They want the benefits of easy, Autodesque route. Thy don’t want to spend money and resources on hard things like software development. So they buy it instead. It’s easier and cheaper for them.
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And let’s not forget what Maxon did after acquiring the Forger sculpting app for the iPad: switched to subscription right away, without any improvement to the tool.
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Mate, I was on early beta and bought in at version 2. Haven’t paid a single penny since. Personally I don’t think it’s going to change things much. Perpetuals will remain. Subs will continue. Maybe more pricey. Basically I see it as being similar to when Adobe bought Allego. Felt like the end of the world at the time, but in reality not much has changed. This is all wishful thinking though, but if Ofer and the rest of the Pixo crew are all joining, lock/stock, then Zbrush will remain safe.
Having said all that, I know virtually NOTHING about Maxon. C4d is probably the only 3D program in history that I have zero experience with. Actually, before I heard of this I thought Maxon would fold in a year or 2. By reading on here it sounds like they’re just another faceless gang of shareholder lackeys.
What are the dev team like at Maxon? Because coming from 3dsMax they have a fantastic team of passionate devs, but they just happen to work for corporate c**ts.
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Will perpetual licenses continue?
Yes, we are anticipating that perpetual licenses will continue.
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It is always the same story
Since the acquisition, we’ve heard lots of questions from our community about licensing and pricing. Our goal with licensing and pricing has always been to be fair to everyone and we’re continuing that philosophy. We’re planning to introduce new offerings late this year, but until then, our licensing and pricing structure will not change.
These future offerings will be primarily subscription-based, but we will continue to offer indie perpetual licenses. We believe that when the content and services offered in a subscription package evolve and improve at a steady pace, the subscription model is the best way for us to innovate fast, continuously improve your tools, and bring you more value.
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Damn, that is depressing news! I actually had to do a double take and hope that it was April 1st.
I stopped using C4D after R20, as I could see the direction that Maxon was going in, and wanted no part of it. Shortly after, I bought a Redshift license that I used with Houdini, thinking it was a safe bet. Suffice to say that I am no longer interested in Redshift after the Maxon buyout. And now Zbrush… geez I never saw that one coming at all!
With such a mature feature set, I could continue using the current zbrush forever. However, I am concerned with what happens when they change the license servers to the one that Maxon uses. I will then be at the behest of Maxon, as they could at any stage “turn off the tap”’. If I need to re-license on another pc, I could be out of luck if I don’t have a current subscription.
The one thing that always irked me about Zbrush, was the online activation. At least with Substance, I can continue using the older versions since I have the license keys, and don’t need any online activation for them. And to their credit, Adobe do have the permanent Substance licenses now on Steam and seem to be serious about keeping them. It looks like that now Maxon are out “adobe-ing” Adobe themselves. Keep in mind that the current Maxon CEO is ex- Adobe, and this is when all these changes started to manifest.
I wonder what Maxon have their eyes on next…Embergen, Marmoset and Cavalry would round out their collection nicely. Surprising that they still haven’t bought Insydium, as that was the most logical buy for them.
Interesting to see the comment from Per-Anders (who wrote the C4D mograph system and won an Academy award for it) on twitter, condemning this move and saying “It’s a terrible shame, Jaime should have talked to me first. They’ll find out though.” Btw, I think he uses blender now 
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As a professional user of Lightwave, Softimage XSI, Motionbuilder and Substance painter I think acquisitions are a good thing and everything will work out just fine.
Needless to say I wrote that with just wee bit of sarcasm.
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I just bought Zbrush a few weeks ago. At least I’ll get 1 year of upgrades.
This is sad news and my head is going “I have a bad feeling about this”. How often has a company with an excellent software product been bought by another and become better for itself and/or its customers? I’m guessing than not once.
I’ve experienced this with Substance when it was bought by Adobe. I had a perpetual license, but still had to pay $150+ USD every year for the upgrade. And I did, happily, even though I was not using the software that much. But I wanted to have the latest version “and support the company”. Then Adobe came, Substance released a FAQ very much like the one that Pixologic has just released, and went all subscription mode to the tune of $439.88 USD ( and that only THE FIRST YEAR, as one will have to pay $549.99 USD every year after that).
Maxon has perpetual licensing too, but one must pay the upgrade to the next version. And how much will that be for the next ZBrush? Do you believe that it will continue to be free? Or that its cost will be similar to the price of upgrading existing Maxon products?
But apart from pricing, this acquisition could very well have other types of impact. What about the impact on the Pixologic culture? Will the Maxon people be as passionate about ZBrush as the Pixologic people? Will they treat well and keep the Pixologic people who make ZBrush the amazing software that it is? How about the relationship with creators and customers? Will they keep the continuous flow of videos, tips, tutorials, and updates that Pixologic currently regales us with?
Too pessimistic? I’d rather end up being pessimistic and proven wrong about the future of ZBrush if this acquisition does go forward, but I’m afraid that am being quite realistic on the actual outcome.
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