Seriously: why does every piece of software need a subscription now?
Somewhere along the way, "buy it and it's yours" became a radical idea. Music, movies, productivity apps — and now games — all want a monthly slice of your card. But think about what a game subscription actually implies: nobody plays one game for their entire lifetime. So why would anyone be expected to pay for it for their entire lifetime?
A good game is one you can come back to
The games I love most are games I've returned to for decades. Not because they nagged me, not because I was locked into a plan — simply because they were there. Installed, paid for, mine. On a random evening, years later, I could open one up and it welcomed me back like an old friend.
A subscription breaks that completely. If a game had asked me to keep a subscription alive, I would most likely have dropped it and never come back — not because the game got worse, but because coming back would have meant signing up all over again. The subscription itself becomes the reason you quit.
The game I'm thinking of: one price, yours forever
If I ever build a game — and I've been thinking about it a lot lately — it will work the old way, on purpose. You'll buy it once, and it will be yours — for the whole family, on all your devices. Play it every day this summer, put it away for the school year, come back at Thanksgiving when the cousins are over. It will still be there, and it will still be yours.
No monthly fee. No renewal email. No "your plan has expired" screen standing between your kid and the sky.
Buy once. Fly forever.