For me, Procreate is a killer app. It's the reason I bought my iPad. IMHO, the $450 or so that it costs to get an iPad + Pencil + Procreate is well worth it.
I don't understand how they can make something as good as Procreate and sell it for $15.
At $15, just about every Apple Pencil owner buys it. The one app basically justifies the existence of the Pencil. If it was a subscription, it'd have vastly fewer users. And Pencil sales would probably be a fair bit lower, too.
And, yes, I'd never buy a subscription because it's just not a daily driver application (for me).
They get [kids] on the brushes and other DLC add-ons.
Because they knew it was that good. They also had first mover advantage. They probably said, "Well, if even 1% of everyone with an iPad buys our app…" and actually knew that would happen. They rock.
Existing users will buy the new app. But will new users need to buy both, or only this one?