CS6 Discontinued.... Need Help, not paying for a subscription

I bought photoshop CS6 out right a long time ago and was told I would be able to use it for life.

By @Shree

You never lost the right to use it for life. The problem is that macOS has changed dramatically since CS6 was released, so it is not CS6 that changed, but the system it runs on has changed. Like Jane said, CS6 can still run indefinitely…on any Mac that still runs a system CS6 was coded to work on. The problem is that no new Mac runs a system CS6 can still run on.

It’s a little like owning the kind of analog TV that was made for much of the 20th century, or an old cell phone like the original iPhone from 2009. Analog TVs still work perfectly, the problem is that most TV stations have stopped sending analog TV signals so it won’t work with the digital TV signals that are now there. An original iPhone can still work perfectly, but most phone carriers no longer transmit the old 2G wireless standard it and other phones used back then, so there is no way for many of those old phones to connect to most cell towers today.

All of those examples are an unfortunate consequence of technology continuing to move forward very quickly. Apple achieved the wonderful speed, reliability, and efficiency of new Apple Silicon Macs in part by cutting out a lot of the macOS baggage from years ago, and also imposing new restrictions to strengthen security and privacy. The CS6 applications just don’t have the right code Apple has been requiring for several years now.

But again, as long as someone has a Mac that still runs a version of macOS that was made around the time CS6 was made, it is possible for CS6 to run on it for life. The problem you are running into with a new Mac is that the hardware and OS have gotten much too far ahead of software that has not changed since 2012.