Same here, in a heartbeat. But, I don’t think @TimoWildenhain was seriously suggesting Steinberg is going that way. More a “if you want X we’d have to do Y” kind of thing.
But again, it doesn’t have to be an either-or situation. There are solutions that I think arguably are pretty good in and by themselves, and then you really have to take into account what you get in return for that.
With all due respect, I find it ridiculous to consider what there is something to gain from losing ownership of the software that my job and livelihood is based on. There is no gain from subscription models for the end user.
The people who discuss in earnest that a company that has been releasing yearly major versions of ALL their software for years, needs to switch to a subscription to be able to merely manage bug fixes and user feature requests, need to step back and seriously think about what they are saying. You are gaslighting yourselves.
And the responses that say “oh he didn’t mean it seriously” are just naive. The fact it’s even mentioned, to me is a clear sign that it’s coming sooner than we think.
I wish I’m wrong.
-
Perpetual License
- bought when you want/yearly.
-
Subscription
- Grants early access to public betas of new features (betas are a separate install)
- partnership with plugin vender grants access to their plugins
- Tech-Support priority
- Retains last full version once subscription accumulates
Something like this would be the best option.
Years ago, some ex-GS guys (ha, why are renegades always from GS 
) created a website forum discussing Steinberg-only.
I coulda sworn it was actually called Cubendo, but don’t remember for sure.
As I recall, the site was created by those who felt the official sb was too restrictive, trigger-fast-ban prone (I think this was in the Pinnacle days) and the 3rd party site’s official purpose in life was to discuss Cubase/Nuendo issues and gripes with zero moderation.
I think the site lasted less than two years ….there wasn’t a lot of activity in my few trips in. There were only so many complaints about what Nuendo 2 could/couldn’t do I guess
“With all due respect”, you didn’t consider what I was actually thinking of.
Just because you see the word “subscription” doesn’t mean that it’s all the same thing. You can subscribe to a license, everyone knows that, but you can also subscribe to an update plan. That latter option can be the way Avid does (or did) it where you get updates regularly as long as you pay the update-subscription plan, and when you stop paying you “freeze” the license you have on the latest version. In other words, you a) pay first for a perpetual license, and b) then subscribe to updates.
I questioned that as well. I’m not sure that anyone is arguing that it has to be that way, other than the person who brought it up in the first place.
The sky isn’t falling. Give it a week, or give it 15 minutes…:
lol subscription doom.
Hi everyone,
First of all, I would like to sincerely thank everyone who participated in these conversations for their time and contributions. I spent some time over the weekend reading them, and the ProAudio team will be conducting a more thorough analysis of all the posts. There are many ideas, valuable criticisms, and perspectives contained in all of your contributions.
The level of detail in the discussion is truly impressive, and I must honestly say that I am deeply impressed by how thoroughly all aspects have been examined, even though some of the topics are discussed controversially. It helps me and us to gain a more precise understanding of the background of the discussion. This includes feedback on topics such as more active communication in the forums and bug situations, but also feature prioritization (which is always very, very complicated) and payment models.
That said, I would like to highlight a few things.
First of all, there are no plans to introduce subscription instead of perpetual licensing. My comment on this was due to a different development model that came up in this discussion. Replacing Perpetual with Subscription is not an option.
In the pro audio segement in which Nuendo is being used, subscriptions are primarily requested by institutions, larger companies, and universities. This is mainly due to consistent budgeting, simplified deployment, and tax advantages. It is explicitly not driven by “our” desire to change the payment method. There may be additional and more flexible payment models in the future, but there are no plans whatsoever to get rid of the perpetual license.
I’d also like to comment on the financial situation. Steinberg has always tried to keep prices competitive. Ten years ago, Nuendo cost twice as much, and updates started at €299/$299. One could argue that software—unlike many other products—has generally become cheaper. Logically, this can only be offset by higher sales volume. While scaling is faster in the consumer market, it’s more limited in the pro audio market.
Nuendo is certainly not the cheapest software on the market and is a premium product (although some of its direct competitors are significantly more expensive). However, we have always tried to keep pricing fair. We reduced the update price by a third in 2017 and have maintained that price point since then. Due to inflation alone, it should be considerably higher.
Even though we can and must improve many things (as already discussed in this thread), it is the close relationship with our users and friends that enables us to continuously develop our products. We have always tried to manage our resources thoughtfully, and so far this has allowed us to weather difficult times and further develop our products – something that is no longer a given these days, as many examples from recent months and years have shown. The industry is going through turbulent times.
I thank everyone for their contributions so far and would like to emphasize again that we will look at this in more detail with a larger team during regular working hours.
Thanks,
Timo
One thing people often overlook about subscriptions - is it’s actually the most affordable option for some people so long as they aren’t locked in for a year. Ie, people can “rent” the software when they are ready to record/mix which might only be a few months out of the year.
So there is actually a moral case to be made about subscriptions, so long as the company isn’t pulling some Adobe shenanigans.
Thanks for the thoughtful response @TimoWildenhain , you’re a gem.
Just because people see things differently than you, and form flexible positions regarding value proposition based on their own workflows, their own goals, their own experiences, and their own potential preferences doesn’t mean we are psychologically damaged, or have some need to “step back and think seriously,” as if we haven’t already done that. You can voice your own opinions without insulting other people. Others can, anyway.
My statement was absolutist in the sense that Steinberg completely replaces perpetual licensing with only a subscription. I don’t actually believe this would happen and indeed Timo above has confirmed that it’s not happening in the foreseeable.
One of the best, most open, most thoughtful posts from Steinberg in the Steinberg forum. Thanks, @TimoWildenhain !!! 
Please keep the channels open with the community! Cheers! And best of luck this week with the N15 launch!
Thanks for the response, Timo.
It’s good to know that perpetual licensing is not going anywhere for the foreseeable future. That makes me feel a bit better because lately I have been considering upgrading my Cubase license to Nuendo. That said, I’ll wait until we know which route you guys decide on and make my decision based on that.
Thanks for the transparency. It’s REALLY appreciated 
.
Really appreciate your engagement here Timo. Personally I would welcome more incremental feature additions and bug fixes throughout the year, rather than a major new version every year or so with a few updates after that. It’s a shame to delay new features. I like to be up to date, so it’s essentially a subscription already. If adding a subscription OPTION allows you to bring in more revenue and thus make Cubase and Nuendo better I’m all for it, though I prefer to own the software rather than rent it. I think your current prices are pretty fair — with the big caveat that I find many longstanding bugs unacceptable (VCA recall, audiowarp/ARA glitches, bizarre “touch” automation in Cubase, and so on).
Plus hundreds.
To sdd, since our feedback is being monitored.
Before introducing any form of Subscription pricing, I think there should be a way to manage licenses so that old softare can be removed completely from an account.
The SAM, likely contains options for subscription pricing already, just not enabled.
It has been said that features should be able to be activated/deactivated when installing any Steinberg software, this is in a sense available via the SDM but only for whole products.
The basic problem with Subscription pricing is, nearly every service that has it, from a phone account, to software and services, the minimum spend is 1 month, and there is NO pro-rata avaiable so if Steinberg could address this, without it becomming a hassle for staff, they would get my money either way.
I had the same issue one week ago. Did not find any search possibilities in the ADR. Tried the PLE, but no luck. Was feeling the same as you, when someone from Steinberg showed me the small triangle, that I thought was just a gimmick, because it looks like a 5 pixel dot on my high res monitor. But now we know! Cheers
Then just keep scrolling my guy; these discussions aren’t suffering from a lack of your engagement in them.
Feature updates also work without a subscription:
Many manufacturers sell software with one year of feature updates. If you don’t pay after a year, the program remains as it is and you can continue using it indefinitely. If you then pay for an update, you receive another 12 months of updates.
For example:
If you buy Nuendo 15 in October 2026, you would receive Nuendo 16 for free, but after October 2027, there would be no further feature updates. The program would then continue to run indefinitely at that version.
So you can pause if you don’t want the updates.
Isn’t that pretty much like Waves’ typically bad-mouthed WUP works? I always thought that this makes sense for both parties.