New Clip Studio Paint purchase policy

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Clip Studio Paint just announced a new Clip Studio Paint 2.0.0 version for 2023. But with that, they have also presented their new product and purchase policy.

And this is not the best news for the fans of the perpetual licensing model on Windows and MacOS…

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What is changing with the Clip Paint Studio purchase version?

Celsys, the company behind Clip Paint Studio, just announced that from v2.0 onward, your perpetual licence will be limited to a unique feature version of the software. If you want to benefit from feature updates, you will either have to buy the next feature version, or to subscribe to an Update Pass.

Up to now, if you had purchased a perpetual license for Clip Studio Paint v1.0, you got access for free to the feature versions v1.1, v1.2, …, v1.12, as well as to all the stability versions (v1.12.1, v1.12.2, …). And so was the case if you bought a perpetual license for the v1.7, you got free access to the feature versions v1.8, v1.9, …, v1.12 and and to all the stability versions.

From v2.0 onward, this will change.

The new Clip Studio Paint purchasing model

First, be aware that you will still be able to purchase perpetual licences of the next major versions of Paint Clip Studio (v2.0, v2.1…). But the difference is that you will not get access to the next feature updates for free.

That means that if you buy a perpetual license for the v2.0, you will not get access by default to the v2.1 or any of the following versions (v2.2, v2.3, …, v3.0, …).

To get access to these feature versions, you will either have to subscribe to an Update Pass, or to buy a perpetual license for that new feature version.

But this Update Pass will also have a big downsides…

How will the Clip Studio Update Pass work?

Let’s say you bought a perpetual license for the v2.0. If you subscribe to an update pass, then your version of the software will receive feature updates during the time your subscription is active. Therefore you will get access to the features of the v2.1, v2.2,…

But as soon as your subscription will end, you will lose access to the new features, and get back to the feature set of the version you initially bought.

Therefore if you had access to a v2.1 and v2.2 thanks to your subscription to the Update Pass. Then when this one expires, you will lose access to these new features and only have access to the features of the v2.0.

To get access to the latest features, you will either have renew your subscription to the Update Pass, or you will have to buy a new perpetual license for the latest feature version.

Latest option, of course, will be to move to a Monthly usage plan, where you no longer own a licence of the software, but just pay on a monthly basis to use it. This is the. model in place for iPad and Android versions of Clip Studio Paint.

What does it mean for v1.x perpetual licence holders?

As a perpetual licence owner of Clip Studio Paint v1.x, you will keep receiving v1.x feature updates for free, up to the moment the v2.0 is released.

When this v2.0 is released, you will not get that v2.0 version, and you will stop receiving feature updates by default.

Without an Update Plan subscription

If you have bought a perpetual licence, but do not subscribe to an Update Plan, you will not receive any feature update from the v2.x, and stability updates (the third version number, at the moment v1.12.3) will stop once the v3.0.0 is out.

That means that if for any reason, after the v3.0 is released, your v1.x software version stops working because of a bug or compatibility issue in Windows, MacOS or Clip Studio Paint, then you will no longer be able to use your Clip Studio Paint software.

With an Update Plan subscription

If you have bought a perpetual licence, and if you do subscribe to an Update Plan, then you will be in the situation presented above. You will get feature updates up to the moment your subscription ends. But it it will end, you will be reverted to the set of features of the latest 1.x version.

What will be the price of the Update Pass?

Celsys indicated that they haven’t yet set the price of the Update Pass. This one will be announced on the Clip Studio Paint website when it will be available.

As a reminder, the subscription for a single device plan is set to $4.49 per month or $24.49 per year for Clip Studio Paint Pro, and $8.99 per month or $71.99 per year for the Clip Studio Paint Ex.

We can therefore expect the Update Pass to be slightly cheaper as you will have bought a perpetual licence ranging between $49.99 for the Pro version, or $219.00 for the Ex version. But they could also set it high to push people to move to a monthly subscription model…

Click the image to get Clip Studio Paint!

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I will update the article as soon as we will have some news. Stay tuned!

Update: October 13th, 2022: Celsys has just published policy revisions as well as new features for the Clip Studio Paint 2.0 version.

Stef