Just reading through this made me realise that I've been a Construct user for 10 years now. I have finished maybe 50 smaller free web games or family/friend projects, countless prototypes and 1 commercial release as a hobbyist - how times flies! When the subscription model first appeared I was pretty angry, I work in software and I know the idea behind these models is usually to get a lot more money for doing less, but I have to say that feeling didn't last, and I don't think that way about Scirra.
Even though I don't get as much time on it as I'd like, at the current price it is definitely worth it, and I am happy to keep paying it for the foreseeable future. Ashley's point about having a sustainable company is a very good one, we get regular updates, and it's clearly a labour of love and not a cynical business model. All businesses have to make money, and I've found I'm much happier giving my money to a smaller business that is sensible about how it's run.
I do feel a bit for absolute beginners, because there are a lot of people who would love using C3 but will never be able to justify a subscription just to try it. It would be nice if there was a less restrictive free version somehow, for those who just want to see if it works for them, but you can't have everything I suppose.
My only complaints really echo those of everyone else, in that for the entire 10 years I've been around I was hoping for an easy and robust Steam release process, integrated and supported where possible. My only commercial release was my last act in Construct 2, and I ended up abandoning all the Steam features so I could release it. I was quite excited about the possibility of building something for Steam Deck, so hoping one day we get something. Other than that I'll continue to be an advocate of C3 and sing its praises to people.