Clip Studio Paint (Desktop) possible subscription model?

[snopmark]

Hello fellow Tapas users,

The iPad version of CLIP STUDIO PAINT just went up, free for 6 months if we sign up before December 20th, 2017(no idea on time zone). It may require a payment method, since it wants $8.99 a month after the free trail period.

Personally I have quite a bad feeling about this.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like they will eventually ease CLIP STUDIO PAINT (Desktop) into a subscription model outside Japan.

1. First they will let us fill out payment methods on CLIP STUDIO.

2. Then they will put up premium assets we can buy on CLIP STUDIO.

3. Next they will tell us CLIP STUDIO PAINT will be free for a limited time, maybe 6 months, maybe a year, maybe 2 years, but eventually it will end in a subscription.

Let me know your thoughts on the matter.

Your pal,
Snopmark

[Wumbl]

That's... a scary thought.
I certainly hope it doesn't turn out that way since I rely on it for my comics and wouldn't want to have to make even more payments on top of the amount I already paid.

[bear1]

So you think Clip Studio Paint will go the same route like Photoshop did?
That would really suck, I rather 'own' a program than rent it
Although as long as it's a monthly thing and you can cancel and resubscribe any time, it might not be that bad. But if the demand you to be bound for a yearlong subscription, no matter if you use the program or not, that would be quite sucky, imo...>,<

[Aspie_Gamer]

shrugs

Its only for the new ipad pro version and 9 dollars a month is honestly a drop in the bucket.

[Shanny8]

I really hope Celsys doesnt become that greedy and try to charge for Clip Studio as a subscription program/app on desktop. A lot of people switched over to CSP and initially got CSP as their primary digital program because Photoshop A) couldnt do comic work as smooth as CSP without the assist of a plug in like Lazy Nezumi, and B) was costing several artists money that they couldnt afford- even as a subscription(at $20/month x 12 months= $240 bucks for a year...even with the "lightroom" subscription at $10/month, that's $120 a yr). With CSP, most creators could pay a one time [VERY affordable] fee and have a program that allowed them to create comics- without any extra plug-ins, coz CSP has a built in stabilizer for line consistency.

[TheThoughtfulBoxful]

this is exactly why I don't associate with adobe anymore as far as digital art goes.
i hope they don't end up doing this. that would really suck.

[Tanisha]

Well to be honest clipstudio already kind of does this. Kind of. On the Japanese site they always offered a monthly subscription about 5-10 dollars for a certain amount of months until they give you the full program. For English users they replace this by giving us sales all the time. So if anything, they might start moving over that sort of subscription base thing going on but there will always be and option to just pay once for it. I’m pretty sure about this since they’ve been doing this with previous versions of Clipstudio.

[joannekwan]

fuuuuuuuccckkkkk

I HATE when companies go the subscription route! >:0 Adobe, MS Office … FUCK
I'm perfectly fine saving up and spending one lump sum of money to get a program I can keep and use forever. It's like, I don't NEED the updates to the program they roll out every couple years or so.

[Shanny8]

And the bad part is that I need to get MS office, but that crap is expensive as hell now.

[UzukiCheverie]

Have you considered trying LibreOffice? It's free and I haven't had any problems with it. I've never had an issue where I was stuck without an MS Office "exclusive" that LibreOffice didn't already have.

Back to the topic tho, from the sounds of it, it seems it's just for the iPad version, which would make sense considering that's a part of the mobile market and most companies like to do "pay to win" models for those because that's what their target audience is used to (vs. the target audience for desktop users who are used to paying one-time fees for user licenses). So let's not start getting ahead of ourselves and panicking. IF they did switch to the pay to win model, I highly doubt they'd make users who already owned a full copy start paying monthly for that same full copy. At most, you'd have to start paying monthly if you wanted to get the newest update, but the level that Clip Studio Paint is now, the Pro and EX versions have everything you need, so any new updates would probably just be unnecessary frills (unless something new and revolutionary came up that changed the face of drawing digitally lol) They'd lose a loooot of customers over that and I'd like to believe they're not that stupid lol

[rainbowolfe]

I don't know if Photoshop was a "Buy it once and it's yours", but I think it would be hard to switch to a subscription based service after so many people have already bought it.

I don't think it'll be a monthly subscription for the Ipad either, and more of a "this app is now $8" once the 6 month period is up.

Id be so annoyed if I suddenly had to pay a subscription fee after paying for the entire program

[Shanny8]

@rainbowolfe Photoshop was a "buy it once" program, but you could "buy it once for $800". Their subscription does make it affordable in certain zones, but once you terminate the subscription- you cant use the program anymore.

[VibrantFox]

I don't know if Photoshop was a "Buy it once and it's yours"

It was when I bought it back around 2013 or so within the a package for design and web that had a bunch of CS6 programs. So seeing Adobe change to a subscription model was not only jarring but frustrating as I couldn't upgrade without shelling out money I'd rather just spend once to buy it and keep it.

I can understand their approach a bit from the business perspective as they're probably looking to gain a profit or something but it makes it tough on a creator especially if they're on a tight budget. it's probably why I've gone with free software that has the features I need and going to Photoshop or whatever when I need to.

[snopmark]

Surprise! Gold(Paid) Materials are now available on CLIP STUDIO ASSETS store.

All according to plan.