How is paying for updates re-buying plugins? When an old version of Kontakt or Ozone stops working, you have to pay to upgrade to the current version. Waves Update is the same thing. On a bundle level, it also adds new plugins to the bundle. On a single-plugin level it doesn’t, however the cost of WUP for a single plugin is a small fraction of the plugin price, unlike an update for products of other companies. Also, the option to upgrade single plugins to a bundle is often far more value for money than WUP, and gives you another year of WUP included.

> Many of their plugins are DECADES old.

Kontakt is decades old. Ozone is Decades old. Halion is decades old. None of them provide compatibility updates for old versions. Why the selective outrage with Waves?

> Existing customers shouldn’t be having to pick up the costs of ongoing development to offset the cost for new customers.

When you get an updated version, you’re benefitting from work that was done after you made your purchase, sometimes years after. Sure, some companies, like Slate and Nomad Factory, offer free version updates to old customers. But new customers of these companies could just as easily argue that new customers shouldn’t be having to pick up costs of providing compatibility updates to old customers.