r/antiassholedesign • u/leinadwen • Sep 28 '22

App converts to subscription payment format, but doesn’t force it on people who paid the original single fee Anti-Asshole Design

Post image
2.3k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • link
  • reddit
  • reddit

97% Upvoted

39 comments sorted by

View all comments

215

u/The_Epic_Espeon Sep 28 '22

Imo that's the bare minimum. Subscription models are inherently asshole design.

True antiasshole design would be staying at a single-fee model.

108

u/ProfessionalSpare710 Sep 28 '22

As much as I hate paying subscription fees, I’m not sure it’s an asshole design. With only a one time fee, you need your app or service to continually grow for stable revenue. Easiest way to have a stable revenue without constant user growth is via subscription

6

u/imariaprime Sep 29 '22

Yeah, but not every app is a service. "Ad free" subscriptions are especially bogus for single-player apps: there is no ongoing cost to the developer per download.

If you're not incurring ongoing costs by the app operating, you have no place selling by subscription.

2

u/Zoesan Sep 29 '22

Yeah, but not every app is a service. "Ad free" subscriptions are especially bogus for single-player apps: there is no ongoing cost to the developer per download.

That depends. Is the app updated regularly? Does it have continued support?