Pepin wrote: ↑03 Dec 2021
It does feel that way sometimes. I know your point about this earlier was pure speculation, but I do think the end game might be integrating 3rd party REs into Reason+ somehow--maybe by retooling the existing RE subscription plan as part of the service. To make that financially compelling for developers, RS would need to prioritize subscriber count over shop sales in the short term--while still keeping the ecosystem afloat. That's a balancing act and might explain their current behavior.
I wouldn't be surprised if it goes in the direction of an MMO cash shop with users earning "plus points" per month to spend in the shop. Figuring that out financially is a tough one though. For the users, the points wouldn't have the same perceived value as real money. It's effectively RS simply redistributing sub money to third parties so something needs to be in place to stop unscrupulous developers just increasing prices to get more money out of RS. It works fine in MMO's as all the additional content is typically created by same company (or at least owned/licenced like the sound packs are), but when third party royalties are thrown into the mix it gets super complicated. It'll be interesting to see what they do there as I'm almost certain they are going to give that a shot.
On another note, I heard late yesterday that Season of Reason is actually happening and appears to be more of a traditional shop focused sale. I can't share the dates nor do I know if RS are participating but it is going ahead. I really hope they give the sale a bit more of a push this time.