It’s because lifetime licenses aren’t sustainable. I’m surprised they still offer it.
Plex is an actual company that has an office and employees, so they have recurring costs every month. A lot of people already have lifetime licenses that they’re not likely to receive any more revenue from. It’s likely they’re increasing the price to help recoup costs or convince people to subscribe to a monthly subscription rather than get a lifetime license.
Not saying you’re wrong, but I wonder how many people that were willing to pay 250 dollars for lifetime would actually pay more than 3 years of subscription.
I believe most lifetime buyers do it for FOMO. They pay it believing that they won’t ever need to worry about it again and that they’re making a good or safe deal… but most of them won’t be using Plex that much anyway.
With this price hike Plex is basically killing the lifetime option. Sure, they might get more subscribers at first, but in the other hand they will also lose a lot of impulse buyers that will hardly pay them 250 dollars in monthly subscriptions at the long run. At least, that’s what I think…
Nah, they increased the cost to drive people to the monthly subscription. I’m guessing in a year or two they’ll announce the lifetime subs have been revoked and everyone needs a monthly sub.
Companies often offer lifetime to early adopters knowing that it will become unaffordable eventually, because it’s a way to drive big revenue in the short term and because it entices users to the platform - and popularity is needed for growth.
As the months and years go by you are still providing service, now for nothing, and eventually start to go into the negative profit for those lifetime customers. They knew this would be the case going in, but they don’t want to offer lifetime anymore knowing that it will lose them money in the long term.
Plex isn’t “early adopter” anymore l, they’ve succeeded in building their userbase and market dominance so they’ve decided it’s now time for the squeeze.
They could have ditched lifetime entirely (and I’m sure they considered it) but instead they just jacked it to a crazy price where nobody wants to pay it and will go monthly instead.
Are Plex being greedy? Sure. And I have never and will never pay for Plex at any price. But they are doing what they do for calculated reasons.
It’s because lifetime licenses aren’t sustainable. I’m surprised they still offer it.
Plex is an actual company that has an office and employees, so they have recurring costs every month. A lot of people already have lifetime licenses that they’re not likely to receive any more revenue from. It’s likely they’re increasing the price to help recoup costs or convince people to subscribe to a monthly subscription rather than get a lifetime license.
Not saying you’re wrong, but I wonder how many people that were willing to pay 250 dollars for lifetime would actually pay more than 3 years of subscription.
I believe most lifetime buyers do it for FOMO. They pay it believing that they won’t ever need to worry about it again and that they’re making a good or safe deal… but most of them won’t be using Plex that much anyway.
With this price hike Plex is basically killing the lifetime option. Sure, they might get more subscribers at first, but in the other hand they will also lose a lot of impulse buyers that will hardly pay them 250 dollars in monthly subscriptions at the long run. At least, that’s what I think…
Nah, they increased the cost to drive people to the monthly subscription. I’m guessing in a year or two they’ll announce the lifetime subs have been revoked and everyone needs a monthly sub.
Exactly.
Companies often offer lifetime to early adopters knowing that it will become unaffordable eventually, because it’s a way to drive big revenue in the short term and because it entices users to the platform - and popularity is needed for growth.
As the months and years go by you are still providing service, now for nothing, and eventually start to go into the negative profit for those lifetime customers. They knew this would be the case going in, but they don’t want to offer lifetime anymore knowing that it will lose them money in the long term.
Plex isn’t “early adopter” anymore l, they’ve succeeded in building their userbase and market dominance so they’ve decided it’s now time for the squeeze.
They could have ditched lifetime entirely (and I’m sure they considered it) but instead they just jacked it to a crazy price where nobody wants to pay it and will go monthly instead.
Are Plex being greedy? Sure. And I have never and will never pay for Plex at any price. But they are doing what they do for calculated reasons.