We have no plans to increase the price of the existing C3 personal license for the foreseeable future.
Retention means keeping existing customers. That's all. The subscription model actually provides a strong incentive to keep C3 regularly updated and well maintained over time in order to keep existing customers.
If you think the existing C2 price is acceptable, but the new price is unacceptable, why not buy it now? It's still available at the lower price until the announced date of 12th March.
Any time we've ever mentioned price over the history of the company, we've always got comments along the lines of "lol omg you should charge $5 that's all it's worth". Obviously the less we charge the harder it is for us to add the features our paying users are asking for, and ensure the product is well-maintained and reliable. Bear that in mind next time you ask for a feature or improvement. We also believe the price is fair and competitive with many other tools on the market. If you don't like it, you don't have to buy it, but there are plenty of people out there who are happy to purchase.
Oooooor you can do what others do and profit: %rev share for Scirra, from each commercial product above X revenue + strong asset store. No need to reinvent the wheel, really.
Ask UE and Unity. Last time I check they are still rolling in cash from their business model.
You in the other hand did the same mistake what Mercedes did, back in '80s and what almost killed the entire brand.
Mercedes survived. The question is: will you?