Maybe not less, it’s kinda the same with a slightly different flavor and a subjectively different user experience. When you buy a VST in the 2020s you are essentially paying for a Fortnite skin: same thing you already have but looks are different, other differences are negligible in the grand scheme of things.

And some people love videogame skins. Not judging here, I have a lot of paid synth installed as well

Surge

“If we can take any positive from this situation, Minimal Audio has listened, and we now have more sensible pricing.”

No. They want customers to believe they are loving and listening. It’s a branding technique, no more no less. It helps to sell your stuff.

“On its original release, a subscription to Current would cost $15 per month or $120 annually. Understandably, renting a synth like Current for a prolonged period but never owning it didn’t sit well with many potential users.”

They did something REALLY stupid just to create some buzz before settling for the real price. Again, Bitwig involuntarily started this trend, Waves Audio then copied the move because it really works to promote a product. Do some dumb s*h*t first, then say you’re sorry. If people talk about it, good or bad, the search algorithms are doing all the heavy lifting. At least it works in the age of fast Internet, and for VST software in a market turning more and more to a “collectible card game” model