No,
it's not actually. It may seem that way. But this allows the developers continued support of a playerbase that knows what they are playing.
EvE, WoW, etc. have survived and even thrived on this method of Payment. Why wouldn't they do it? MMOs require huge monthly upkeep for all aspects, they pay for the servers, the pay their employees to make content. As well as the usual bills, etc.
One off payments give you a huge balance to begin with, then the payments drop off significantly, thus making them have to budget the initial money to stretch for 5 - 10 years, which is not easy.
Plus, I'd prefer P2P to having them release a game at 60 - 80 dollars and then have 5 DLCs at 30 each.
This is a fine method.
**Edit: Yes, it may make it hard for the player, but guess what? Can't afford it for a month, you can make the money to buy game time in game or you just don't pay the sub till you can afford it.
