Krita is also evidence that this model can work in some limited instances even though the program is completely monetarily free in every sense of the word. It's

Krita is also evidence that this model can work in some limited instances even though the program is completely monetarily free in every sense of the word. It's not "free after X months", it's not "free but you pay for premium features" -- it's just a free download, but you can buy it in a store. There are only two reasons to buy Krita through Steam: 1. You want to support Krita 2. You want Steam to handle updating/launching And it turns out that's enough for them to get some sales. People underestimate how often users will either take the path of least resistance or purchase something just to be nice. Typically when we run into this kind of behavior it's negative, for example the struggle to try and get ordinary people to install ad blockers. But it's nice with Krita to see that human instinct more positively leveraged.