The Unity Asset Store has over 15,000 assets now and is averaging about half a million downloads per month. With so much activity, there is no doubt that some developers are using it to make money. One developer claimed he was making $10,000 a month at some point – here is his story. We also have a good relationship with Unity experts Rebound Games, who are doing quite well on the Asset Store, and I think it’s safe to say they’re making a nice living from it.

One of the interesting topics is how to choose a price for your package. There are 4 basic strategies. Here are the merits of each one:

Giving assets for free

If your main goal is to make a name for yourself as a good developer and an expert in Unity, you might consider uploading your assets for free. It’s a great way to get recognized while giving back to the community. If you are a game development studio who is looking for a way to get paid projects – this could be a good way. At SOOMLA, we are an open source company so our packages are free by nature.

Charging money for the asset package

This is pretty straight forward – once you submit your package to the Unity Asset Store, you can set a price for it. Obviously, the higher the price will be the less people will want to pay it. It’s a good practice to look at similar packages and compare prices. If there are other developers offering the same content, you might consider pricing lower to undercut them or pricing higher to position yourself as a premium content provider. it is also a good idea to periodically drop the price completely or give a discount to create buzz around your package.

Implement a freemium model with two packages

While the asset store doesn’t have an in-app purchase option for packages, it does allow you to upload two packages with a limited and extended feature set. This technique has been mastered in the early days of the Apple App Store. In the Unity Asset Store, the packages from the same provider are being presented to the user next to each other and so many users will realize that only the premium package includes the features they want. The key here is to implement enough functionality for beginners in the free package. This way you enjoy the buzz and the visibility of a popular free package while still having a way to make money.

Using a loss leader to increase visibility

If your paid package is too niche, you might want to consider creating another package that targets the same developers and price it for free. This technique is often called loss leader in the retail world. The purpose of the loss leader is to appeal to a wider audience and get them in the door so they will discover other products. Since the Unity Asset Stores presents packages from the same developer in the related items section, this will increase the visibility of your paid package.