Reason 12 is here

[chk071]

https://www.reasonstudios.com/blog/reason-new-pricing

Well, that's pretty f***ed up!

Increasing the price might make sense in terms of physical product where commodity prices went up considerably (and employee costs, too), but here we're talking about existing code base that can be copied at infinitum for free to sell to new users.

I don't understand that logic. Software development, marketing and running a web shop cost money.

[EnochLight]

Of course it'll still be an option. It's still a source of revenue from all those who refuse to subscribe.
Whether anyone upgrades anymore is another story.

If there's anything we can 100% count on during a Reason upgrade cycle to a major version, it's threads upon threads of user rage and people predicting the fall of Reason Studios/Propellerhead as a company.

Increasing the price might make sense in terms of physical product where commodity prices went up considerably (and employee costs, too), but here we're talking about existing code base that can be copied at infinitum for free to sell to new users.

Tell that to any software dev (that their years of hard work shouldn't be rewarded by charging more as the years go by)... Cost of living goes up, man. Would you work for the same employer if they didn't give you a raise...in 20 years??

[antic604]

I don't understand that logic. Software development, marketing and running a web shop cost money.

Sure they do, but they increased comparatively less than for a company that builds & is selling computers or cars.

[antic604]

Tell that to any software dev (that their years of hard work shouldn't be rewarded by charging more as the years go by)... Cost of living goes up, man.

I'm aware of that. I worded it imprecisely - for car manufacturers both materials & staff costs went up, for software firm only the latter.

[chk071]

Let's be honest for a second: You and I have no idea about the internal financial situation of Reason Studios. Therefor we can both only speculate what it costs them, what they earn, and how much of a price raise is justified for them to sell their software, and do a good living.

If you ask me, that's just the first of many price raises in the audio software industry. Corona takes its toll, and also the absolutely extreme consumption in Corona times, in form of increased sales, which makes it easy to raise prices, will have an influence.

[antic604]

Let's be honest for a second: You and I have no idea about the internal financial situation of Reason Studios. Therefor we can both only speculate what it costs them, what they earn, and how much of a price raise is justified for them to sell their software, and do a good living.

Yes, that's why I'm still hopeful. Perhaps they really want to hire more people & double-down on features, devices, etc.

[antic604]

If you ask me, that's just the first of many price raises in the audio software industry. Corona takes its toll, and also the absolutely extreme consumption in Corona times, in form of increased sales, which makes it easy to raise prices, will have an influence.

I hope you're wrong. I'm afraid you're right.

[chk071]

I also hope it doesn't come like that, but, I see certain signs...

[EnochLight]

for car manufacturers both materials & staff costs went up, for software firm only the latter.

There are more costs than just staff when developing software, my friend. I'm just saying, keeping your software upgrades the exact same cost for 2 decades is a pretty impressive feat by itself, but a little shocking nonetheless - especially for such a niche market like audio production software. If anything I'm just surprised that they didn't raise their upgrade cost a long time ago.

[imrae]

If they're going to near-double the cost of upgrading, maybe I'll just halve the rate of buying upgrades. 11 -> 12 doesn't look to be great value at the current price, guess I'll be holding out for 13 or 14...

[chk071]

That's how I do it with Studio One. IF I even upgrade when version 6 comes out... really highly depends on the added features, or improvements.

Imagine you upgrade from Reason 1 to Reason 12. Quite revolutionary.

[Blaster]

If they're going to near-double the cost of upgrading, maybe I'll just halve the rate of buying upgrades. 11 -> 12 doesn't look to be great value at the current price, guess I'll be holding out for 13 or 14...

Same here.

Increased costs shouldn't figure much into the pricing of software since it's tied to demand. Making it more expensive might mean less copies sold. It might also mean deeper discounts on more sales. Seems like a push to the subscription model. They could increase the price to $9999, it would still available to buy to "own"

I'm sure they did their research...

[antic604]

for car manufacturers both materials & staff costs went up, for software firm only the latter.

There are more costs than just staff when developing software, my friend. I'm just saying, keeping your software upgrades the exact same cost for 2 decades is a pretty impressive feat by itself, but a little shocking nonetheless - especially for such a niche market like audio production software. If anything I'm just surprised that they didn't raise their upgrade cost a long time ago.

Sorry, but that argument doesn't convince me. 20 years ago when they were innovative and competition were few and far between that price was perhaps right. Now there's 20+ DAWs, most of them technically much better than Reason and as I said - bulk of the code is already there and doesn't need re-writing to sell new copies.

It only makes sense if the plan is to hire more people, move to bigger office, perhaps launch new products and in that way make the hike justifiable.

But it doesn't look good considering the scope and state of v12 right now. If they did it along with 12.1 or 12.2 that complete the HD transition, add VST3 and M1 support in couple of months that'd be received better, I think.

[machine_spirit]

This is obviously just another step towards making Reason+ the only option. 499€ for standard perpetual license? They don't seriously consider these prices viable, they are entirely aware where Reason finds itself on the market and the pricing of the competition.

[EnochLight]

for car manufacturers both materials & staff costs went up, for software firm only the latter.

There are more costs than just staff when developing software, my friend. I'm just saying, keeping your software upgrades the exact same cost for 2 decades is a pretty impressive feat by itself, but a little shocking nonetheless - especially for such a niche market like audio production software. If anything I'm just surprised that they didn't raise their upgrade cost a long time ago.

Sorry, but that argument doesn't convince me. 20 years ago when they were innovative and competition were few and far between that price was perhaps right. Now there's 20+ DAWs, most of them technically much better than Reason and as I said - bulk of the code is already there and doesn't need re-writing to sell new copies.

It only makes sense if the plan is to hire more people, move to bigger office, perhaps launch new products and in that way make the hike justifiable.

But it doesn't look good considering the scope and state of v12 right now. If they did it along with 12.1 or 12.2 that complete the HD transition, add VST3 and M1 support in couple of months that'd be received better, I think.

I'm not saying it's a good look - in fact, I totally agree that it's a bad look and even worse timing. Probably should have waited when they were closer to a 12.4 state or after January 2022, IMHO. But I stand firm in my statement that software development has far more costs than just "payroll".