In reply to Rick.

One of the huge money makers for Automattic are WooCommerce extensions, nearly all of which are in the "write once, sell many" model.

I think what's really being sold is support - which incidentally is most important service that can be offered. Or at least that's what I do: Write a plugin once, sell it to all comers, then support it and evolve it over time for those who buy it, everyone else is SOL. No free stuff. I learned about a decade ago that when plugins and themes are given away people literally demand free support and complain to high heaven when they don't get it fast as if they're at a McDonald's drive-thru. Sheesh. And they write all about their dissatisfaction with "slow support" (which they often claim is "bad support") in so-called "plugin reviews", which incidentally renders the plugin review system at WordPress.org nearly useless and definintely misleading and a disservice to plugin developers.

So some years back I pulled my plugins our of the respository and stopped publishing any new plugins there for exactly those reasons. I'd rather sell them to the few that actually find value in them and can offer something of value in return...