I've seen first hand the cost of running servers for Apps and scaling prices. It's going to be a huge drain on monetary resources for scirra to maintain a service like this. I don't think it would be feasible or fair to ask them to re-consider their pricing model.
As disappointed as I am, it is a decision that was taken years ago and a lot of work must have been put into creating this. I remember when GDevelop introduced their web service(free but also kept a native app) and my arguments were almost the same as they are now. The web is prone to crashes and takes bandwidth which is a huge deal where the Internet is not cheap. Also, they feel clunky to use.
I think construct deserves the money they ask and I have no problem paying it but I'm a casual developer who likes to create prototypes for the fun of it and not owning the software really bums me out. And to cover the cost of the servers they need to use these web service the money they are asking is justified so I'm just disappointed here. Feels like I lost a skill. No blame to the devs, it's just been a bad first day of Feb for me. First, the girl I like in the office left and now Construct moved to web and subscription model. It's just been a sad sad day.