In the News: Yet another move to subscriptions

[Rodney]

For those following the (general) software trend toward subscriptions etc. this may sound familiar...

 

Autodesk has announced they will terminate 'upgrades' in 2015.

What options are left for users of their products?

Apparently, an annual purchase and/or subscription.

 

Here's a write-up at AWN: (Link)

 

The header:

As part of an Investors Day meeting at the Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco, technology developer Autodesk said it would discontinue the ability to purchase software upgrades on February 1, 2015, according to a report by Graphic Speak. The move is reportedly part of the company’s long-term strategy to move revenue from purchases to subscriptions and rentals.

 

Much of this move is surely designed to catch more of the revenue stream generated as software is inevitably pushed downward (outward?) toward the periphery where lower end users will not pay thousands of dollars for software but pay more if spread out over a longer term. They have calculated that a greater saturation in the market will equate to a higher revenue than what can be achieved within the current framework of increasing quality with the associated specter of ever diminishing returns.

 

While not all aspects of being lean and agile are foolproof this is a good case for how small companies can quickly turn toward new approaches.

Note that it has been five years since Hash Inc moved to the subscription model and the big players (Adobe, Autodesk, etc.) are only just now making their move.

Much of this is pure math; how does one maximize profits in the old system before moving into the new? How do you make the move without incurring excessive risk?

With smaller companies the risk is just as real but the change easier to implement.

 

There are some companies that are still holding out (they are still hoping to maximize profit in the old system) but short of new technology ripping through to create a new marketing paradigm it seems clear that the old model is not sustainable in its current form.

 

It will be interesting to see what the innovators of tomorrow bring to the table in software.

[thejobe]

when it comes to software of this scale. depending on what they will be charging will definitely take a huge bite into their profits. i mean for smaller studios it will be a harder hit than a larger one. but lets take maya for example. full price for the program is $3675 (upgrade $2575). you buy it and keep it until that version has become outdated (which could be anywhere from 2 - 5 years). lets say you keep that version for 2 years before updating.

now renewal subscription is $195/month ($2340 yearly) or year $1840 (save $500)

 

using maya for 2 years

Full = $3675 (save $5)

subscription = $3680

(yearly sub)

using maya for 4 years

full + upgrade = $6250 (save $1110)(upgrade every 2 years)

subscription = $7360

(year sub)

using maya for 10 years

full + upgrade = $16550 (save $1850)(upgrade every 2 years) (upgrade every 5 years $8825 save $9575)

subcription = $18400

(year sub)

 

so the saving only start adding up to compared to how frequently you update.

 

but compared to hash

subscription = $80

10 years = $800 (savings compared to maya $17600 )

[robcat2075]

I'm sure there will be much gnashing of teeth.

 

But I was talking to Dhar a while back and he said he doesn't know anyone who is actually paying for Maya, between the "student" and "educator" and other promotional variations.

 

Maybe some of that is going to be curtailed.

[detbear]

I spoke with my Autodesk representative(Reseller) and told her that freelancers just can't afford the Version upgrades,

sidegrades, and downgrades. The freelance jobs often don't pay enough to justify the over priced upgrades/ downgrades.

 

As is often the case, a company developes a game, movie, project, etc. in a particular version, and the freelance people are

required to have that version. This is normally way too costly.

 

So in my last conversation with my reseller rep, they informed me that Autodesk is going to begin offering rental/ type... short term

usage of software. Hopefully that too will not be way over priced.