Subscription lockout

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Subscription lockout is the practice of imposing a subscription barrier on a product or service which used to be free or could be acquired by doing an one-time purchase. The lockout might affect partially or completely how the product or service works.

How it works

Because subscriptions are more profitable in the long run than one-time purchases or by giving a product or service completely for free, many companies have modified their business model to apply this practice by paywalling a product or service which at first was offerred for free, or even being able to be acquired via an one-time purchase with a subscription model that requires to pay a constant fee, usually every month or year. The product or service that was locked might be unusable or have a limited usage if the user is not paying the required subscription.

Why it is a problem

Erosion of ownership and misleading advertising

Many products that were originally offerred as a perpetual license or something that someone will own after being purchased become products that have to be rented to be able to use them. Developers or publishers of applications might use license laundering to change a perpetual license and force the user who purchased the license to pay a subscription in order to use a piece of software.

Affordability issues

Subscription models in the long term cost much more money than making an one-time purchase, and not everyone has the ability to afford a subscription.

Examples

Subscription lockout is a pretty common practive nowadays and several examples can be found. More examples that aren't listed here can be found under the Subscription lockout category.

References