I am considering purchasing a license to create mobile games with game maker studio 2. They have recently updated from a perpetual license model to a subscription model. However, it appears that it is still possible to buy a perpetual license if it is purchased through steam. I know that it is possible to link a steam account to a yoyo games account. But, is it possible to get a perpetual license for mobile development on steam, and then transfer it to my yoyo games account so that I can develop for mobile without using the steam version of gms2?
You can link a Steam account to YoYo Games account on the dashboard to have access to those licences without having to run GameMaker via Steam;
As per FAQ, if you buy a permanent licence, you keep it, including the current Steam licences (which have not been updated to subscription model yet).