Adobe pioneered the mainstream subscription shift for professional creative software with Adobe Creative Cloud in 2013.
Before Creative Cloud, Adobe primarily sold Creative Suite applications through perpetual licenses. Customers paid upfront for versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and related programs, then bought upgrade editions when they wanted new features. Adobe announced in 2013 that it would stop developing new Creative Suite releases and make future updates available through Creative Cloud subscriptions.
Creative Cloud combined desktop applications with services such as cloud storage, font access, mobile tools, collaboration features, and continuous updates. The change gave Adobe recurring revenue and allowed it to deliver feature updates more frequently, but it also meant customers no longer simply owned a permanently licensed current edition. The transition was controversial among users accustomed to one-time purchases.
Adobe did not invent subscription software or software as a service; companies had used recurring licensing and hosted software earlier. The more precise claim is that Adobe made subscription access the standard model for a leading professional creative-software suite. Autodesk and Microsoft later made similar transitions in their own product categories.