NI<->DRM. Only drive clone, later used on same machine will solve this. To my understanding it uses system ID to tether authorization.

I believe NI is too big to fail, with roughly 1,000,000+ paid users plus it is embedded too deeply in music making community. I am not authority on the subject, but I don't know of any music making software company of this magnitude that would just close doors. Sure, anything is possible, but I believe chances of total doom are very slim.

Cakewalk (Sonar) in the final days of Gibson had roughly 100,000 - 150,000 users. In the middle of the hot mess, chief hinted that if for some reason they would have to shut servers, they would do permanent unlock of paid software. I can still activate my Gibson 2017 Sonar.

Having said that, I usually do a full drive clone every year smile