In 2022, a certain car brand caught heavy flak for requiring a subscription to activate heated seats in vehicles purchased by customers. Many wondered, “What’s with the need for a subscription when the heated seats are already installed in the car?”.
A year later, the car company discontinued the subscription requirement for heated seats following the backlash, but that did not spell the end for extra recurring payments to unlock other features.
While these practices have since spread to other players in the automotive industry, they’ve long been a major bugbear for consumers in the broader tech space.
Consumer complaints
Take Kuala Lumpur-based chef Hiro Ng Wei Xiang, for instance, a lifelong gamer who feels frustrated over the subscriptions required to access the multiplayer features of games on consoles.
“First thing is that I need to buy the console, which isn’t cheap. Then I have to buy the game I want to play, and then to play online with my friends, I have no choice but to pay for the monthly subscription after that. That’s on top of my monthly Internet bill, too.
“It feels ridiculous, and it all really adds up. I’d rather be able to pay once for a game and be able to access all the features it’s supposed to come with.
“Some things make more sense as one-time payments, and some are better as subscriptions. Not everything has to be a subscription,” Ng says.
Basic multiplayer gaming subscriptions can range from RM10 (for Nintendo consoles) to RM35 (for PlayStation), which is on top of the price of the devices (usually upwards of RM1,000 each) and the cost of games (over RM200 for big releases).
Ng says that he understands there are costs involved when it comes to maintaining servers for online play, but when compared to the exact same games sold on PC that do not need any additional subscriptions to play, it just doesn’t make sense to him.
While he owns a gaming console, having to pay for a subscription for online play has pushed him to game more on his desktop computer, leaving his console as more of a paperweight until there is an exclusive title he feels a strong urge to play.
When it comes to creative design software, Kuala Lumpur-based multimedia design student Joel Lee says that subscribing to industry-standard tools is not sustainable, especially over his four years of study.
While the software suite he uses offers a student plan, it would still cost him nearly RM60 per month in the first year, rising to over RM120 in the following years, adding up to more than RM5,000 over the course of his studies.
“Every student has a different financial situation, and it can be very difficult to keep up with these costs throughout our studies. The prices can easily go beyond what we are able to pay,” he says.
This becomes a bigger hurdle due to his limited options, forcing him to either subscribe to the software he needs or book time at university facilities to use computers with the software a difficult option given the large number of students and limited availability at his campus.
Lee adds that in the short-term, a subscription may be cheaper, but those like him who will be using the software for an extended period would be better off with the option to obtain it through a one-time purchase instead.
Software providers previously offered licences for such software through a single upfront payment, but have increasingly shifted towards a subscription model.
Cost concerns
Another consumer, freelance 3D computer graphics (CG) designer Pearson Ooi, based in Penang, says that such software subscriptions end up being a major recurring expense for freelancers like himself.
His workflow also requires specialised 3D computer graphics and animation software on top of the industry-standard creative tools.
“When combined, the realistic software cost for this kind of pipeline can easily land somewhere in the RM3,000 to RM10,000 per year range, depending on licensing choices and additional tools.
“As a freelancer, that becomes a noticeable fixed overhead, because these costs exist regardless of whether work is consistent.
“Individually, they seem manageable, but together they add up quickly and become a significant part of maintaining a professional CG workflow,” he says.
This is something that the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) chief executive officer Dr Saravanan Thambirajah also has misgivings about.
“Fomca is concerned about situations where consumers must maintain a subscription simply to continue using software, even when they do not require any new updates or additional features.
“In the past, consumers could purchase software once and continue using it for many years. The shift to mandatory subscriptions means consumers may lose access to tools they rely on if they stop paying.
“This can create a continuous financial commitment, especially for students, freelancers, and small businesses that depend on these tools for work or education,” he says.
Beholden to big tech
Saravanan says that Fomca, along with the National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC), has observed growing dissatisfaction among consumers with subscription-based services.
“While subscriptions can offer benefits such as continuous updates, cloud services, and lower upfront costs, the growing trend also shifts consumers away from ownership toward long-term dependency on recurring payments.
“Fomca believes the key issue is not the existence of subscription models themselves, but the lack of choice and transparency in how they are implemented,” he says.
This leads to consumers like Ooi being more cautious when it comes to adjusting the tools used in their work pipeline.
“Every new tool isn’t just a one-time purchase anymore – it’s a long-term commitment. It also means I have to think about software costs even during slower periods, because they don’t scale with workload.
“In some ways, it shifts the mindset from owning tools to essentially renting them, which reduces flexibility and makes budgeting more important than before. More often than not, it feels like I am paying to maintain access rather than paying for genuinely major upgrades.
“There are definitely useful improvements from time to time, but they tend to be incremental,” he says.
It all adds up fast
Saravanan points out that this can make it harder for consumers to visualise the long-term costs that they end up paying for a product or service, since the monthly fees may seem smaller and more affordable at a glance.
“However, over several years, the total amount paid can significantly exceed the cost of what would previously have been a one-time purchase.
“Consumers may subscribe to multiple services simultaneously, such as streaming platforms, cloud storage, productivity software, and gaming services.
“The accumulation of these subscriptions can quietly increase household expenses without consumers immediately realising the full financial impact,” he says, adding that this can be a significant accessibility barrier for lower-income consumers.
When it comes to physical products that require an additional monthly fee to unlock certain features, Saravanan says that such practices raise important concerns about fairness.
“When a consumer buys a car or electronic device that already contains the hardware for certain functions, requiring additional payments to activate those functions may create the perception that consumers are paying twice.
“From a consumer protection perspective, there should be clearer communication about what features are included in the purchase price and what require ongoing payments.
“Transparency and fair marketing practices are essential so that consumers understand exactly what they are buying,” he says.
The way Ng sees it, this lack of transparency could end up causing unnecessary friction for new console gamers, or even those receiving gifts from relatives, who pick up a new title only to find they have to pay an extra subscription out of nowhere.
“In this way, it ends up feeling like a glorified paywall. Sometimes they include extra perks like free games or other extras, but they usually get rotated out after some time, so they aren’t always going to be there,” he says.
Walled garden
Another area to consider is the potential of being locked into an ecosystem, which, according to Saravanan, leaves consumers vulnerable to sudden policy changes that may remove their access to tools, digital content, or even important data stored on a platform.
“From a consumer rights perspective, there should be safeguards to ensure that consumers can retrieve their data or transition to alternative services without unnecessary barriers if they decide to stop their subscriptions.
“Some companies design their systems in ways that make it difficult for users to switch to competing services. This can involve proprietary file formats, limited data export options, or complicated migration processes.
“When consumers become heavily invested in one ecosystem, switching to another platform becomes inconvenient or costly. This can reduce competition and limit consumer choice in the long run, which is why greater attention to data portability and interoperability is increasingly important in the digital marketplace,” he says.
For Ooi, those concerns are very real, and in many cases an unavoidable part of his line of work. Switching away from widely used tools and file formats is a big challenge when interoperability is essential for collaboration.
“There is also the time investment required to relearn new tools and rebuild existing pipelines. Over time, you accumulate assets, presets, and habits that are tied to specific software, so moving away is not just a technical change but a practical one.
“Even if alternatives are capable, the overall friction makes switching difficult, especially when working with clients or ongoing projects,” he says, adding that moving to a different software mid-production could break file setups, plugins, or render workflows.
Ooi further says he has explored using alternatives that do not require subscriptions to try reducing long-term costs, some of which he found surprisingly capable in certain parts of his work.
“However, for full production workflows, subscription-based industry-standard tools are still difficult to replace.
“Many pipelines, plugins, and collaboration workflows are built around them, so alternatives tend to work better as complementary tools rather than complete replacements,” he says.
Meanwhile, in Lee’s experience as a student, while some of the more affordable or even free alternatives available can do the job, many of his classes and lecturers require him to use industry-standard tools in coursework.
Read the fine print
Saravanan further advises consumers to carefully review the terms and conditions before committing to any subscription service, including how much it will cost over time, and whether it renews automatically.
He adds that there should be mechanisms in place that allow consumers to easily unsubscribe from services without unnecessary hurdles or hidden steps.
“Consumers should also check what happens to their data or digital content if the subscription ends.
“It is important for consumers to periodically review their active subscriptions and ensure that they are not paying for services they no longer need or use.
“Greater awareness and careful evaluation can help consumers avoid unnecessary long-term financial commitments,” he says.
