Subs all thanks to Adobe and Buildbox?

A few subscription proponents mention the industry is moving towards this model, but besides Adobe and Buildbox, I'm not aware of too many lockout-type subscriptions. Would this even be on the table if it weren't for them, or is it inevitable?

Shoutout to newt and Bleenx

A few subscription proponents mention the industry is moving towards this model, but besides Adobe and Buildbox, I'm not aware of too many lockout-type subscriptions. Would this even be on the table if it weren't for them, or is it inevitable?

Shoutout to newt and Bleenx

I don't know about Buildbox, but sure, Adobe had a big hand in it all. But so did many others such as Autodesk. If you subscribe to use Max or Maya per month/year, and then you cancel your sub, then you can't edit your models or animations until you subscribe again. It's the same with Adobe Photoshop files and such. I still use Adobe, but as a 3D animator, I no longer use Maya unless I'm told I have to by a client. Otherwise, I use Blender.

The subscription model is inevitable. It's a guaranteed way for developers to maintain constant revenue and to be paid for updates rather than release them for free every year, much like Scirra has done with C2. Those same companies also use the subscription model as a way to stop piracy of their programs, though that's another conversation since pirates wouldn't buy it anyway and still find ways to crack subscription-based software.

Unity has a nice subscription model: pay as you go. But in the end, sure you own it, but you won't get any of the new features and updates after that to my knowledge. It's a catch 22. Thankfully, they still offer the free personal edition, which I believe many game engine companies also provide, and they're all limited.

tl;dr Yes, it's inevitable. I'm sure YoYo Games, Clickteam and others will follow suit if they see sales dips and work hard to provide updates with little payoff.

I think Ultima Online (1997) was probably the first software that required subscriptions. Unless you want to count websites.

Maybe Adobe had a big hand in subscription models gaining traction, but Adobe kind of had to switch to a subscription model. Their users were skipping every other upgrade or so for the software, because people didn't see the value. The software already did what they needed it to do and many of the new features seemed insignificant. Not to mention that their software was already bloated and their features started to overlap their other software. That's what killed Adobe Fireworks.

That might also explain C3 going subscription. A lot of the new features seem insignificant. It's more or less C2 in a browser with cloud service. Maybe they don't think they can improve the software enough to justify charging people every few years to upgrade. Maybe because the web is changing slowly, it's hard to come up with new features? Maybe Scirra kinda has to go this route.

It's only inevitable if people let it happen. There is certainly a worrying trend with larger corporations trying to push this as they can milk customers far more than with one off payments. Companies like Adobe and Autodesk were in a strong position to strongarm this as they are the industry leaders in their respective software fields with huge established customer bases that are completely reliant on their services. I was surprised when Scirra pulled this idea out as they are in no way the same position as those two business giants. If you look at other software industries - eg the pro audio scene, hardly anyone is using subscription services (and those that have tried - such as Roland with their cloud service have been heavily ridiculed and criticised) as they simply cannot justify the ongoing prices with their updates. I sincerely doubt that a 2d engine would be able to innovate fast enough to justify this either and everyone knows it. There's only so far you can go and it won't take long to hit the ceiling because we're almost there. In short though, people who are against systems like this should vote with their wallets. If we end up in a world full of subscriptions for everything it's because we've let it happen. There are good alternatives out there for Adobe and Autodesk products, and the same goes for game making software. Subs work fine for companies, but for individuals they are terrible. We're looking at a future of every service being a subscription, slowly draining our bank accounts from every direction, once it happens we'll be trapped. Don't let it happen.

It's only inevitable if people let it happen. There is certainly a worrying trend with larger corporations trying to push this as they can milk customers far more than with one off payments. Companies like Adobe and Autodesk were in a strong position to strongarm this as they are the industry leaders in their respective software fields with huge established customer bases that are completely reliant on their services. I was surprised when Scirra pulled this idea out as they are in no way the same position as those two business giants. If you look at other software industries - eg the pro audio scene, hardly anyone is using subscription services (and those that have tried - such as Roland with their cloud service have been heavily ridiculed and criticised) as they simply cannot justify the ongoing prices with their updates. I sincerely doubt that a 2d engine would be able to innovate fast enough to justify this either and everyone knows it. There's only so far you can go and it won't take long to hit the ceiling because we're almost there. In short though, people who are against systems like this should vote with their wallets. If we end up in a world full of subscriptions for everything it's because we've let it happen. There are good alternatives out there for Adobe and Autodesk products, and the same goes for game making software. Subs work fine for companies, but for individuals they are terrible. We're looking at a future of every service being a subscription, slowly draining our bank accounts from every direction, once it happens we'll be trapped. Don't let it happen.

I agree with you. Adobe's tactic has always been to make their user base dependent on them, all the way from acquiring Macromedia, to now with their "free" mobile apps requiring you to have a CC account. I don't think a lot of these companies switching to a subscription model seem to realize that.