when you purchase Studio 17 what about Studio 18, 19...

What are the terms when one buys Resolve Studio 17?
How long are upgrades included? Does it include a free right to upgrade to future versions,
say Studio 18 or 19? Is there a limit?

Or is it just for Studio 17, and we get to pay for an upgrade to future releases?
Is there a track record for this?

(I don't expect Blackmagic to comment about future product plans)

BM has the right to charge for upgrades at their discretion, but I learned Resolve on v12 and haven't seen them charge yet.

[Shrinivas Ramani]

While we don't formally make a commitment, we haven't charged for an update since Resolve 8.

References: Peter Chamberlain's response here and in other places:

We haven't charged for any updates since v8 but we haven't and don't make a commitment to future features nor updates. That said we currently dont expect a change to the what we have been doing.

licensing FAQs:

Can I use my USB dongle from an older version of DaVinci Resolve?
Blackmagic Design released their first version of DaVinci Resolve in 2009. It used USB dongle licensing to activate the software. This is now replaced with activation key licensing in more recent versions.

These original dongles, still work with the most recent version of the software! All you have to do is download the latest version and install it on your system, and use the same original Blackmagic dongle.

Previous owners have been able to update to the most up to date version of Resolve for free. While we cannot always guarantee this in the future, Resolve users have received free updates for nearly 10 years!