WordPress.org has almost everything a mature platform needs, except a built-in marketplace for paid plugins. Instead, we have the free plugin directory, while premium plugins are sold independently across hundreds of different websites.

As a plugin developer, I sometimes feel WordPress is missing an opportunity here. The current model makes the premium ecosystem quite fragmented, with different stores, licenses, subscriptions, update systems, refund policies, and levels of trust.

A proper WordPress marketplace could potentially make discovering and buying premium plugins easier for users while giving developers a more reliable distribution channel.

Of course, centralising this also comes with downsides: platform fees, stricter rules, gatekeeping, and giving WordPress.org/Automattic more influence over the ecosystem.

Curious what others think. Would an official marketplace for premium WordPress plugins make the ecosystem better, or is the decentralised nature of WordPress actually one of its strengths?

EDIT:
Thanks for the downvotes; I get the concerns, but this is what I had in mind when I wrote the post.

Selling movie tickets or DVDs worked well, especially for established movies. But smaller or experimental films had a much harder discovery problem. Platforms like Netflix reduced some of that friction, so consumers could discover and try something unfamiliar with less perceived risk, while creators had another way to become discoverable.

Obviously there are pros and cons to centralization, and I'm not suggesting WordPress should copy Netflix or Apple's model.

My point is simpler: if there were a platform that reduced the risk and friction of purchasing premium plugins, while also helping smaller/new developers get discovered and build trust, I think there could be value for both sides.

The question is whether that can exist without taking away the independence that makes the WordPress ecosystem valuable in the first place.