Unity Technologies acquires Bolt

An official visual scripting solution for Unity

Ludiq is proud to announce that its flagship visual scripting solution Bolt has been acquired by Unity Technologies. This acquisition will empower Unity developers worldwide with a production-ready visual authoring tool that helps artists, designers and programmers collaborate on their game or application. Thanks to Unity's involvement, Bolt will benefit from a wealth of resources and experience in middleware development, while its users can continue to rely on the same level of quality support and trusted new releases they had come to expect.

As the lead developer of Bolt to this day, I am thrilled about the potential of putting this tool in the hands of more creators and allowing them to concretize their ideas in a visual way. Bolt started as a solo endeavor nearly four years ago, and over time, our team and community grew to welcome thousands of visual thinkers. Today, passing the torch to Unity means Bolt will enter an exciting new phase of its life. While letting go of a project you love is never easy, I have met the amazing people at Unity who will carry it forward and I am confident that Bolt is in the best of hands.

We are working closely with Unity Montreal to ensure a seamless transition. Support for Bolt 1 will continue uninterrupted and development of Bolt 2 is progressing on track. We want to make sure there are no sudden or unexpected changes for existing users. In the meantime, we want to address any question or concern you may have.


Will the development of Bolt 2 continue?

Yes! We are working closely with Unity engineers to transition the technical know-how of the codebase in order for them to release and improve Bolt 2. For more information on how to access Bolt 2 Alpha and Beta versions, please see this forum thread: Welcome to Bolt 2 Beta.


What will happen to the Bolt community and support?

All the existing community and support channels will remain available. Ludiq's community manager Hasan is joining Unity to ensure a smooth transition and maintain a direct line of communication with the community.

The Ludiq Discord server will become solely dedicated to Bolt and the moderation will be handed over to Unity, with Hasan on the team. The learning material on our Learn Hub and our YouTube channel will be moved to Unity's documentation streams over time.

We will also transition the open issues on the Bolt Support Forum to Unity. This includes bug tracking, user questions, and feedback. The support forum will then be locked. To report a new Bolt issue moving forward, please follow the standard bug reporting steps. Additionally, larger studios that have Integrated Success Services (ISS) support from Unity will now be able to get Bolt support via the Unity Technical Support portal, just like any other Unity feature.


How will I get access to Bolt?

Bolt will continue to be sold on the Unity Asset Store. At this time, there are no plans to change Bolt’s availability or pricing.

Unity will honor the commitment made by Ludiq to offer Bolt 2 at no additional cost to current Bolt users and to new users who purchase Bolt before May 31, 2020 (11:59 PM PST). Eligible users will automatically receive an individual license for Bolt 2 when it becomes available.


What happens if I purchased Bolt via the Ludiq Store?

From this point forward, new Bolt licenses can no longer be purchased via the Ludiq Store.

However, Unity will send a free voucher to all users who had previously purchased Bolt via the Ludiq Store. This voucher will be redeemable on the Unity Asset Store to continue to receive new Bolt versions and updates.

To make this process seamless and automatic, if you purchased Bolt on the Ludiq Store, Ludiq will share your email address with Unity on June 4, 2020, unless you decide to opt-out. You can opt-out via this Data Transfer Opt-Out Form.

However, should you decide to opt out, you acknowledge that Ludiq will not be able to provide you with any further updates or upgrades and that you may not be able to fully enjoy all the functionalities of Bolt.


Will there still be an educational license?

Unity will provide a free voucher to Unity Student Plan users in the near future.

In the meantime, educational licenses can no longer be purchased from via the Ludiq Store.


Did Unity also acquire Ludiq and Peek?

No. Ludiq will continue to develop and maintain Peek, our new collection of workflow tools. We remain committed to empowering our community with amazing tools, and we hope you will join us as we continue to make game development easier and more accessible for everyone.


I have more questions!

Feel free to reach out on this Asset Store Forum thread.

You can also join the discussion on the Bolt Discord server in the #acquisition-chat channel.


In conclusion

Bolt becoming an official Unity product is a major and exciting leap forward for visual scripting. We want to extend our most sincere thanks to every user who has helped shape Bolt over the years with their feedback and contributions. We look forward to the amazing projects you will keep on building and sharing. The future is looking bright for visual thinkers.

Sincerely,

— Lazlo Bonin
CEO, Ludiq

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