New Pricing for Reason 12 - Upgrades now 199 from 129

[scotward57]

I would have happily pay to upgrade if the product was improved in some way. One redundant device, one utility, and a graphics upgrade really doesnt do it.

Not everybody uses samplers or cares about a new combinator. Make track folders, freeze tracks...core improvements.There is literally nothing about R12 that is an upgrade for some of us.

Unless there is a vastly improved point update I will stay with R11 Suite and simultaneously be teaching myself Live. I hate saying this because I much prefer the vibe of Reason...but it looks like it’s burning out.

Same goes for me, but with Logic. And if I were having to face the decision to spend $200 on Logic or the R12 upgrade, Logic wins hands down. And if Combinator v2 is that important to you, spend $30 on MainStage instead. Of course you need a Mac but if you have that, it's a no-brainer choice.

[Catblack]

The frequency of annoyance is already worrying here, amazing that no one from RS notices this.
Unless much more is released, the future will be difficult for new sales records.

-new browser search
-hi-res
-VST 3
That's all things with standard character today. It's much effort, of course, but it's a decision of RS for instance to make the graphics so much complex.

-M1-support
Uninteresting for Win-Users

I agree. I'm totally not interested in M1 support, I will never own an Apple.

[Billy+]

The increase in price is wrong
Saying that it's not happening in 20 years is incorrect, if I could be bothered to dig out my recipes I've got proof that increases have happened over the years.

It wasn't an issue until now it's expected to some degree

But you always got a solid product and that's not what's happening here

You're getting the hope of a better product in the future.

I had already made up my mind that I would wait until the road map was achieved before upgrading because it's not a usable product right now and it's not going to be in 2 weeks when the price increases comes in.

There's absolutely no way I'm upgrading at £129 in the hope that it gets fixed
There's definitely no way I'm upgrading at £199 for what's be proposed - the roadmap was bear minimum before I could even consider R12

[flexluthor]

Yep, I was thinking it should be like 145 to 149 if they were going to increase it. Not a 60% increase for less features.

Yet another Reason Studios business model failing. Lets see how well that SaS is going to work boys. You've tried to jump on every other industry trend in the past decade (App Store, mobile apps, social site, ect) lets see how bad you screw this one up. Given your past success with every other me too move, I'm sure it will work out fine!

Out of interest, why do you think a 4x price increase over rolling inflation is representative of the business failing ?

AFAIK, Reason's majority stakeholder is an investment firm. A company that has no interest in music-making any more than they have an interest in bull semen (I kid you not, that's another business in their portfolio!)

So then, for a parent business whose ONLY goal in a free market is to make as much $$ as possible (and it could be argued, the model of any business growth strategy, regardless of structure), their options in reaching those goals are:

A - Increase Prices
B - Increase Sales
C - Both A & B

Because I think it will cost them more sales than they make up for in margin. I could be wrong, but they haven't gotten anything right aside from maybe porting Reason over into a VST in the past decade.

Do you really think everyone will be jumping to upgrade to reason 12 for 199 dollars? You're nuts if you do. For half the user base its just a plug in now. For the other half, they haven't done anything of note with the DAW in 3 versions. It's just a scheme to get everyone on their SaS model, because they probably didn't have as many fully paying subscribers as they needed vs their perpetual license holders.

[Proboscis]

Get it while you can folks! I believe the company will be sold off before a version 13 arrives despite all of the happy talk of a future road map. Vulture capitalists strike again!

Does the corporate structure of ReasonStudios influence your spending habits ? Whether the 'sell off' happens before or after R13, our beloved software has been in the hands of 'vultures' for more than four years now.

Have you not upgraded, or purchased RE's in that time ?

[joeyluck]

Judging by the thread, it looks like popular opinion swings strongly in one direction, but let’s see what a slightly more scientific approach yields.

I merged the threads as it seemed to make sense to have the poll attached to this thread, which has a discussion going already.

[Proboscis]

Because I think it will cost them more sales than they make up for in margin. I could be wrong, but they haven't gotten anything right aside from maybe porting Reason over into a VST in the past decade.

Do you really think everyone will be jumping to upgrade to reason 12 for 199 dollars? You're nuts if you do. For half the user base its just a plug in now. For the other half, they haven't done anything of note with the DAW in 3 versions. It's just a scheme to get everyone on their SaS model, because they probably didn't have as many fully paying subscribers as they needed vs their perpetual license holders.
[/quote]

Don't mistake my pragmatism for support of ReasonStudios.

Notwithstanding the R+ SaaS, the calculated risk here is that for every 100 upgraders @ $129, they only need to sell 64 units @$199.

And, with this announcement, there will no doubt be a rush on upgraders who have been 'on the fence'. That alone is going to significantly bolster their profits.

This is free market behavior not confined to ReasonStudios. They're just another entity leveraging the popularity of the product they offer the market, in order to maximize profit.

[Proboscis]

Would the outrage be the same, I wonder, if this was the way upgrade prices were rolled out ?

$139 Reason 7
$149 Reason 8
$159 Reason 9
$169 Reason 10
$179 Reason 11
$189 Reason 12

[joeyluck]

It's not so bad. Again, I look forward to seeing them live up to the new price tag. And I remind myself that it could be much worse. It could be like Softube increasing their price for Tube-Tech RE from the already crazy $349 to the ridiculous $449. Or Teenage Engineering increasing the price of the OP-1 from $799 to... $1299

[WOO]

Get it while you can folks! I believe the company will be sold off before a version 13 arrives despite all of the happy talk of a future road map. Vulture capitalists strike again!

Does the corporate structure of ReasonStudios influence your spending habits ? Whether the 'sell off' happens before or after R13, our beloved software has been in the hands of 'vultures' for more than four years now.

Have you not upgraded, or purchased RE's in that time ?

No it doesn't to your first question and yes I have to the second. I'm worried about them being sold off for parts and never rising again.

[gullum]

I already upgraded but for $199 I am not sure I would

[miscend]

Reason Studios' CEO maybe wasn't born when Reason 6 had a PWYW upgrade price. If you earn a living making music you could just put the increase down as a business expense on your taxes. But as many of us are hobbyists R12 probably doesn't earn the $200 upgrade price as apart from 3 new features it doesn't feel very different to R11. R11 Suite was such a steal.

[Proboscis]

No it doesn't to your first question and yes I have to the second.

Well, regardless of who ReasonStudios is sold to, it hardly matters to you, based on your purchasing trends. You're already supporting an investment firm with no interest in music production software.

I'm worried about them being sold off for parts and never rising again.

Whatever your misunderstanding of corporate takeovers (which this isn't), there's really nothing to dismantle. This sort of activity occurs when a company has very defined operational assets that hold value on their own. It could be transportation infrastructure, central warehousing, or a large portfolio of product that's performing well in the market.

ReasonStudios has one asset, that being Reason.

The only conspiratorial corporate move would be that another DAW company buys them out, and integrates Reason RRP as part of their own suite. This is certainly a little far-fetched since the acquisition cost would be astronomical for what is just a 'super-instrument', but not implausible I guess.

[Proboscis]

Reason Studios' CEO maybe wasn't born when Reason 6 had a PWYW upgrade price.

I'm almost certain that the CEO is older than 11 years of age.

[Michaellos]

I guess R 12 will be my version for a long, long period of time. 199 $ - is way too much for me, and, moreover, I have to admit that 129 $ upgrades were pretty pricy as well. Every time I bought an upgrade, that was a discount. Very sad news for me. And the sarcastic thing is that R 12 is not polished yet - I got back to R 11

[MarkTarlton]

A 54% price increase is pretty significant when you think about it in terms of percentages.

[Proboscis]

A 54% price increase is pretty significant when you think about it in terms of percentages.

Only because it's delivered in one hit !

The statement they made about 'it's the only upgrade price increase ever' is clearly BS, but if there were a $10 increase on every new upgrade since it was first $129 (Reason 6 ? excluding PWYW), then we would be close to the new $199 offering anyway !

And such a passionate thread as this one wouldn't exist, because folks would only be grumbling about ten dollars, every two years.

[tronam]

Well, by keeping the price at $129 for 20 years, the upgrade price has been going down each year.

$200 today is worth a little less than $129 in 2000.

Upgrades used to cost $99.

You also have to take into consideration that you got everything when you upgraded back then. Now they withhold devices and sell them as Rack Extensions.

At least in US dollars back in 2002 the Reason 2.0 upgrade was $89, but Reason 3.0 was $129 in 2005 and has mostly remained that way ever since. I get that no one likes price increases, but at least they gave us advance notice. Now we can all upgrade to support our beloved Reason engineers so they can keep making it better over the next 18-24 months. Think of it as an investment.

[Proboscis]

Actually, here's a wayback snapshot of Propellerhead's shop page from the Reason 5 days.

Upgrade price was $129

If every upgrade between then and now were $10, we would be EXACTLY at $199, and it would have been historically on-trend for price increments.

Where or when was the outrage on the $50 hike for a new license (now a $100 hike) ! None of us think about the plight of the potential new Reason user

.

image_2021-09-16_140940.png (4.61 KiB) Viewed 2227 times

.

image_2021-09-16_140242.png (84.56 KiB) Viewed 2227 times

[jamespember]

While the roadmap seemed like a great step forward, I have a feeling it's all for Reason+ users. There was no mention of these updates coming to R12 point upgrades, maybe the point upgrades are no longer a thing.

The point updates are coming to R12, regardless of how you bought (sub or perp).

[Proboscis]

While the roadmap seemed like a great step forward, I have a feeling it's all for Reason+ users. There was no mention of these updates coming to R12 point upgrades, maybe the point upgrades are no longer a thing.

The point updates are coming to R12, regardless of how you bought (sub or perp).

So.. We're expected to be upgrading at the post-increase price, on the basis of a 'promise' ?

Oh hang on , you already stated that the roadmap contains no promises. My bad.

The 54% price hike is based then, on what ? An expectation that an R12 point update will set the world on fire ? Sight-Unseen ?

Seems like any amazing value-adds should be offered at the start of a brand-new version , no ?

[muckmclane]

The point updates are coming to R12, regardless of how you bought (sub or perp).

Hi James,
There is a particular person who played a titanic role in regards to Combinator 2. Is there a way I can tip this man???

[Proboscis]

Hi James,
There is a particular person who played a titanic role in regards to Combinator 2. Is there a way I can tip this man???

Who is it ? This doesn't seem like something that should be a secret. The C2 is an amazing advancement for the rack. Perhaps THE most innovative development since the introduction of Players.

However, why are we rewarding her/him over and above the salary they earn ? You (and me) have already paid for their contributions by upgrading/subscribing/buying REs.

[muckmclane]

Hi James,
There is a particular person who played a titanic role in regards to Combinator 2. Is there a way I can tip this man???

Who is it ? This doesn't seem like something that should be a secret. The C2 is an amazing advancement for the rack. Perhaps THE most innovative development since the introduction of Players.

However, why are we rewarding her/him over and above the salary they earn ? You (and me) have already paid for their contributions by upgrading/subscribing/buying REs.

I want to reward the individuals who were big players in regards to the features I give a crap about. I fully grasp why that sounds lame to you.

[MrFigg]

You know, one of the phrases I hate most on this forum after “RTFM” is “Nobody is forcing you to buy it. “. I really do hate that phrase. It pains me to say that in this case it really is applicable.
Ironic that this post is number 199 hahaha.