[perlpimp]

yes 1password did that, then they released new version ... and plugin for safari that is available would work only with the new subscription version. no fixed payment version. fantasticCal I bought for 50$ after a year stopped working as new version was released and seems that facebook api on old version was broken - so yolo calendar app another 50$USD for new version. I asked them about broken api and they said it wont be fixed in the old version. There are other examples I can't remember.

[lemoncucumber]

1Password actually does still offer standalone licenses, but they don’t advertise them so it’s hard to find.

If you download the app from their website (not the Mac App Store), then there’s an option in the app to buy a standalone license.

I think this points to another factor (besides the cost of running servers) in why so many apps are moving to subscriptions instead of the old purchase-outright-and-pay-for-upgrades model: the iOS and Mac app stores have never supported that model. There’s no way to offer a discount to customers that are upgrading from a previous version.

[wool_gather]

There is a workaround if you use IAPs for the upgrade rather than pre-download purchase, although you have to release the new version as its own product, not as a simple version bump of the existing app. The newer version can check whether the older version is installed and offer different purchase options.

Apple introduced app bundles a few years ago, and those can now be used, with the same caveat of putting up the new version as its own app. In this case the App Store itself can do the check for the original version and change the price of the bundle.

It's certainly not ideal, but it is possible. Pythonista and GoodNotes are two that I know of that have used each of these workarounds.