Not a deal: Serif (Affinity) acquired by Canva

[MusicMan]

N.B. Not an audio deal, but Affinity is popular on here.

ANNOUNCEMENT
26 March 2024

A message to our amazing Affinity community

Today marks a momentous new chapter in our journey together.

Our CEO Ashley Hewson shares an exciting update: Affinity has joined the Canva family! Together, the two companies will join forces to create a world where design is within everyone’s reach.
I am thrilled to announce that Affinity is joining the Canva family.

This is a moment of great excitement, anticipation, and profound gratitude for all of you who have been part of our story so far.

We know that those of you who’ve put your faith in Affinity, some since we launched our very first Mac app, will have questions about what this means for the future of our products. Since the inception of Affinity, our mission has been to empower creatives with tools that unleash their full potential, fostering a community where innovation and artistry flourish. We've worked tirelessly to challenge the status quo, delivering professional-grade creative software that is both accessible and affordable.

None of that changes today.

In Canva, we’ve found a kindred spirit who can help us take Affinity to new levels. Their extra resources will mean we can deliver much more, much faster. Beyond that, we can forge new horizons for Affinity products, opening up a world of possibilities which previously would never have been achievable.

Canva’s revolutionary approach to design democratisation and commitment to empowering everyone to create aligns perfectly with our core values and vision. This union is a testament to what can be achieved when two companies that share a common goal of making design accessible and enjoyable for everyone come together.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to our incredible Affinity team. Your passion, dedication, and relentless pursuit of excellence have been the driving force behind our success so far, and I can’t wait to continue this journey with you all.

To our loyal users and the creative community, your support and feedback have been invaluable. You’ve inspired us to push boundaries and continuously improve, and we’re excited to embark on this new chapter together.

The future is bright, and I am incredibly excited to continue our story together and create a world where design is within everyone's reach.

You helped us start a movement. Today, that movement becomes a revolution.

With heartfelt thanks,

Ashley Hewson
CEO

https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/press/newsroom/canva-statement/

See the link for the F.A.Q.

Edited March 26 by MusicMan

[Release]

Oh man.  Hope they don't F it up.  

I make my living using the Adobe Suite but I also own all 3 of Affinity's products and they're solid and perfect for a lot more people than the Adobe stuff.  

The thing that has me concerned the most is the wording "None of that changes today."  TODAY.  I guess we'll see.

[aidan o driscoll]

Was reading REDDIT Posts facebook posts and other forum threads on this. Majority not happy at all. expecting it to go the ADOBE sub route and prices sky rocketing .. even though in the announcement they say there is no move to sub AT THE MOMENT

What drew many away from ADOBE to AFFINITY was the buy and own + reasonable price. Maybe too reasonable and done by Serif with a view to building a base and wanting to sell it from the get go.

I have v1 for ages, considering v2. I might do so at the mo, a sale on now. At least you end up owning it at V2 perpetual IF its goes sub.

I originally moved from photoshop to Affinity as i could not justify the monthly sub for Photoshop vs my usage.

 

Edited March 26 by aidan o driscoll

[Brian Walton]

Terrible news for everyone other than Affinity leadership that had an equity stake in the deal (whom can now afford an Adobe Subscription)

[Kirean]

I tried, but I can't quickly think of a single instance where things got a lot better for the consumer after a new party had to recoup its new investment costs.

[aidan o driscoll]

4 minutes ago, Kirean said:

I tried, but I can't quickly think of a single instance where things got a lot better for the consumer after a new party had to recoup its new investment costs.

Yip - my exact thought. In the world of 3D something similar happened with MODO 3D. Excellent standalone 3D software, breakaway from Lightwave. Had a great community and the CEO constantly in touch on forums etc and with videos and so on .. it was a very personalised type community setup. Then they sold to the Foundry, things after wards were not the same vibe at all

[kitekrazy1]

3 hours ago, Kirean said:

I tried, but I can't quickly think of a single instance where things got a lot better for the consumer after a new party had to recoup its new investment costs.

Steinberg under Yamaha

WA Production, Melda Production, UVI, under Image Line who vows not to interrupt the 3.  Some FL users were disappointed hoping UVI would be iLok free but not so.

[aidan o driscoll]

Alot of activity over at AFFINITYs own forum on this subject

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/201413-affinity-is-joining-the-canva-family/

16,400 views already and 304 replies

[aidan o driscoll]

Quiet a few people with thoughts on this cropping up on Youtube also

 

[Kirean]

Come to think of it. Clip Studio Paint got better with updates etc. once they dropped Smithmicro and the Manga Studio branding.

That bliss ended a bit more than a year ago as they're now pushing subs. Granted, they also sell a perpetual licence but one which doesn't see any upgrades if you don't pay a monthly 'update plan' fee.

 

[aidan o driscoll]

7 minutes ago, Kirean said:

Come to think of it. Clip Studio Paint got better with updates etc. once they dropped Smithmicro and the Manga Studio branding.

That bliss ended a bit more than a year ago as they're now pushing subs. Granted, they also sell a perpetual licence but one which doesn't see any upgrades if you don't pay a monthly 'update plan' fee.

 

@Kirean Celsys payment model is most confusing now with both sub and perpetual. But even with perpetual you still have to pay and annual sub for the upgrades from the time you buy the license. You can now also pay annual sub to upgradeyour v1 to new v3 but if you dont pay the sub next year you are reverted back to v1. Its crazy confusing

Oh and you can only use a license on ONE SYSTEM at a time

Edited March 26 by aidan o driscoll

[Kirean]

2 minutes ago, aidan o driscoll said:

@Kirean Celsys payment model is most confusing now with both sub and perpetual. But even with perpetual you still have to pay and annual sub for the upgrades from the time you buy the license. You can now also pay annual sub to upgradeyour v1 to new v3 but if you dont pay the sub next year you are reverted back to v1. Its crazy confusing

I understood that if you buy v3 (or v2), you can use that forever. But if you don't pay for the update plan, you won't get any of the extra 3.x patches. If you pay for the update plan, you'll get version updates (so 3.3 etc). If you stop the update plan, then you'll revert back to base v3. I personally wouldn't mind paying for the update plan if it meant that you'd get to keep the updates but it's absurd you don't.

It's a shame though. I've used Clip professionally for a long time and the brush engine is still my favorite with a pen display. While I'm on v2, even v1 works really well for what I do so it's not the end of the world as those work. With v1 you were able to use the program on two computers easily, but with v2 it became a pain in the ***** even though the licence allows it. That's why I'm not that eager to go v3 since its licence agreement hasn't been put out yet (from what I gather) and I'm afraid they'll dick customers around even more.

[Esteban Villanova]

Please, no subscriptions...

[aidan o driscoll]

24 minutes ago, Kirean said:

I understood that if you buy v3 (or v2), you can use that forever. But if you don't pay for the update plan, you won't get any of the extra 3.x patches. If you pay for the update plan, you'll get version updates (so 3.3 etc). If you stop the update plan, then you'll revert back to base v3. I personally wouldn't mind paying for the update plan if it meant that you'd get to keep the updates but it's absurd you don't.

It's a shame though. I've used Clip professionally for a long time and the brush engine is still my favorite with a pen display. While I'm on v2, even v1 works really well for what I do so it's not the end of the world as those work. With v1 you were able to use the program on two computers easily, but with v2 it became a pain in the ***** even though the licence allows it. That's why I'm not that eager to go v3 since its licence agreement hasn't been put out yet (from what I gather) and I'm afraid they'll dick customers around even more.

@Kirean I understood that if you buy v3 (or v2), you can use that forever.

Yes .. at the mo its cheaper to just buy a new v3 lic if you have v1 ( like me ) otherwise you need to pay to upgrade v1 to v2 then pay again to upgrade v2 to v3. 

Once you have the version 3, my understanding is you get regular updates BUT you dont get anymore feature updates unless you buy an annual UPDATE PASS

You can see this here:

https://www.clipstudio.net/en/purchase/

Click on PERPETUAL LICENSE and it says - 

• Pay once and use Ver. 3.0 forever
• Available only on Windows/macOS
• Update Pass available separately to get feature updates

 As I said its very confusing in my view. Trying to please all and not making a good job of it

[Kirean]

6 minutes ago, aidan o driscoll said:

@Kirean I understood that if you buy v3 (or v2), you can use that forever.

Yes .. at the mo its cheaper to just buy a new v3 lic if you have v1 ( like me ) otherwise you need to pay to upgrade v1 to v2 then pay again to upgrade v2 to v3. 

Once you have the version 3, my understanding is you get regular updates BUT you dont get anymore feature updates unless you buy an annual UPDATE PASS

You can see this here:

https://www.clipstudio.net/en/purchase/

Click on PERPETUAL LICENSE and it says - 

• Pay once and use Ver. 3.0 forever
• Available only on Windows/macOS
• Update Pass available separately to get feature updates

 As I said its very confusing in my view. Trying to please all and not making a good job of it

Do note that if you upgrade to v3, you'll lose v1 licence and can't use it anymore. At least v2 destroyed my old licence, which sucked.

[Brian Walton]

2 hours ago, kitekrazy said:

Steinberg under Yamaha

WA Production, Melda Production, UVI, under Image Line who vows not to interrupt the 3.  Some FL users were disappointed hoping UVI would be iLok free but not so.

Yamaha didn't kill off Steinberg - but they are also still have "old school" pricing model and just discontinued VST2.  I personally wouldn't view them as a customer friendly company.

Image Line hasn't killed those off, but in what way are they better now?  Melda is the only one that I really use (but own products from the other two) and I haven't seen any material improvement whatsoever.  The positive is simply that they don't feel like they have changed but that doesn't make them "better" now.  Melda thus far as least isn't a case of another company stepping in and ruining everything thus far which normally happens.  

[kitekrazy1]

28 minutes ago, Brian Walton said:

Yamaha didn't kill off Steinberg - but they are also still have "old school" pricing model and just discontinued VST2.  I personally wouldn't view them as a customer friendly company.

Image Line hasn't killed those off, but in what way are they better now?  Melda is the only one that I really use (but own products from the other two) and I haven't seen any material improvement whatsoever.  The positive is simply that they don't feel like they have changed but that doesn't make them "better" now.  Melda thus far as least isn't a case of another company stepping in and ruining everything thus far which normally happens.  

In this age it does make them better by not changing.   If it aint broke don't "f" it has a bigger meaning than ever.

Interesting that when Gibson killed off Sonar there were a lot of DAW deals. 

Enshitifiction is here to stay.

[smallstonefan]

I moved to Affinity and I like their products and the price. That said, I've felt in this day and age their model is a poor one. They should be a subscription model - that's what their competitors do. They would make so much more money than with one and done perpetual licenses. I will continue to use the perpetual licenses I paid for, but I'm not surprised by this at all. As a software company you get about 1x value on perpetual purchases, but you can get a 3x-10x value on recurring revenue, plus you don't have to start at zero every month.

I think it's a no brainer for a bigger company to take them to subscription - so hold on to your installers!

[aidan o driscoll]

26 minutes ago, smallstonefan said:

I moved to Affinity and I like their products and the price. That said, I've felt in this day and age their model is a poor one. They should be a subscription model - that's what their competitors do. They would make so much more money than with one and done perpetual licenses. I will continue to use the perpetual licenses I paid for, but I'm not surprised by this at all. As a software company you get about 1x value on perpetual purchases, but you can get a 3x-10x value on recurring revenue, plus you don't have to start at zero every month.

I think it's a no brainer for a bigger company to take them to subscription - so hold on to your installers!

I agree re subs. From a biz perspective it makes complete sense but from a hobbyist perspective I can see why it doesnt. The price Affinity is at was always going to be an issue. My thought on that is Serif knew they had a good thing, sold cheap to build a large user base relatively, make it saleable and then flog it on. I heard in a youtube vid ( maybe the one I posted above ) that Canva paid $1bn for Serif/Affinity. If that is the case, from Serifs perspective its a great day at the office.

I think it's a no brainer for a bigger company to take them to subscription - so hold on to your installers!

Agree 100% - Perpetual licenses will not make you money these days, only way to go if you want to make decent money is to go monthly / yearly subscriptions. The success of subs is in the area of streamers - Netflix, Prime, Spotify, Sky and so on .. small monthly amounts that people dont notice much. In biz terms it makes sense because you can spread costs over a financial year rather than playing 100s 1000s on perpetual licenses

Q is if you dont yet have v2 is now the time to upgrade with the sale so at least you have the v2 installers instead of the older v1

Edited March 26 by aidan o driscoll

[Kirean]

I wouldn't have minded a price increase with Affinity if the software saw substantial improvements, but difference between v1 and v2 didn't seem to bring anything monumental. Or if it did, they've done a really **** job advertising it. That's why I've yet to upgrade despite buying v1 software instantly (both PC/ipad) they got released.