In recent years, many companies started to provide their services with a subscription service. It essentially allows consumers to pay small amounts of money per month for the service they want. However, now it has become a problem in our society since too many services are becoming subscription-based.

First, it started with Netflix and Disney+, just watching movies and dramas. Then it went on to cloud storage and gaming services, such as GeForce Now and Mega. Next was DoorDash and Uber, spreading out to grocery shopping and food. Not only that, most of the digital products you purchase online are usually never actually owned by the consumers, even though they pay for it.

Ubisoft is a company notorious for being hostile towards its consumers. They are also one of the companies that has been pushing the cloud and subscription-based services for everything. In early 2024, the executive of Ubisoft, Phillpe Tremblay, quoted that people should get “comfortable” with not owning anything, encouraging more of subscription based products.

At these companies’ actions of trying not to let consumers own things, people were very dissatisfied with their actions.

Tae Yu, a police officer, says, “This is just a monopoly extended towards average consumers, and in the end, we will be basically enslaved by these monthly payments.”

Tae showed his concern towards companies having a heavy impact on our lives with the economic pressure of these subscription-based services, which require monthly or yearly payments.

David Kim, a college student with many subscriptions, says, “I am kind of forced to pay for these services, and I do not like the fact that I can’t just keep them forever for permanent use.”

David showed his frustration towards programs that he needs to pay for every month just to use them.

There are many people frustrated with the current direction of where our online industry is headed. With the current economic situation, it seems pretty difficult for people to get used to this increasing type of service.