Canva Acquires Serif's Affinity Apps

[madebybela]

ah yes, the ol' "no changes planned at this time" whenever a software company gets bought out.
PR speak for "the next major release will absolutely be a subscription"

 

[klasma]

And so the ******tification begins…

 

[JungleNYC]

We LOVE Affinity, but if Canva tries to require a subscription then we're out. Hopefully Suite II will continue to work (like CS5 did for a while) if they do.

That said I'm glad Affinity is getting $$, they made really good products. Let's hope Canva doesn't ruin it.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

They better not mess this up by removing the option to just buy the app.

 

[arkitect]

Well Canva do run a subscription model… so… yeah.

I think Affinity will get the subscription treatment.

FFS! 😕

 

[BanjoDudeAhoy]

Apart from the subscription model, Canva has also jumped on the Ai bandwagon, no?
How long until that’s in Affinity?

Yeah, it’s been a nice run.
Krita from now on?

 

[GeneralChang]

Got the email from Affinity about this today. Canva brings nothing to the table for me, but I am at least reasonably confident that nothing is going to change for the V2 Affinity apps I use and love. Hard to say beyond that, but then it was always hard to say whether the next major release was going to stay away from subscriptions. It was never a promise Serif made for the future, just a selling point they emphasized for the present.

 

[Populus]

I have wanted to buy this apps for a while, and I’m not going, in any way, buying into a subscription.

What app should I get for photography improvement (edit), and creating content every once in a while?

What app consider is a must get from Affinity? Affinity Photo? Affinity Design? Maybe publisher? What about the device? Is the iPad version versatile enough or it lacks functionality regarding the Mac app?

I’m afraid I’ll have to purchase them ASAP but I don’t want to spend a lot. Especially if they will stop updating this one time purchase versions.

Thank you.

 

[BanjoDudeAhoy]

I have wanted to buy this apps for a while, and I’m not going, in any way, buying into a subscription.

What app should I get for photography improvement (edit), and creating content every once in a while?

What app consider is a must get from Affinity? Affinity Photo? Affinity Design? Maybe publisher? What about the device? Is the iPad version versatile enough or it lacks functionality regarding the Mac app?

I’m afraid I’ll have to purchase them ASAP but I don’t want to spend a lot. Especially if they will stop updating this one time purchase versions.

Thank you.

I love Affinity Photo and moved to it when Adobe became increasingly pushy with their subscription model.
My partner used Affinity Design for vector illustration and it seemed a bit more straight forward than Adobe Illustrator.

 

[Alvinc]

Sure all the Serif staff will be fired even though they have already negotiated about the employment with Canvas. Something like what Bending Spoons did before.

 

[GeneralChang]

Well Canva do run a subscription model… so… yeah.

I think Affinity will get the subscription treatment.

FFS! 😕

View attachment 2362769

The Affinity team sent an email out to their customers this morning specifically stating that V2 apps won't be going to a subscription model and that all the free development updates they were planning to make to V2 are still going to be made. Given Canva's whole deal I think it would be silly to assume that applies to future versions of the apps, but at least for the current version of their apps I see no reason to go shopping anywhere else.

Of course, shopping somewhere else was always an option I kept on the table if Affinity went subscription in the future, which was always a possibility whether Canva was involved or not.

 

[DocMultimedia]

Ugh. Whenever I start to love a good app by great team they so often sell out and app goes to h*ll. I still miss the quality of MacroMind (then Macromedia).

 

[arkitect]

The Affinity team sent an email out to their customers this morning specifically stating that V2 apps won't be going to a subscription model and that all the free development updates they were planning to make to V2 are still going to be made. Given Canva's whole deal I think it would be silly to assume that applies to future versions of the apps, but at least for the current version of their apps I see no reason to go shopping anywhere else.

Of course, shopping somewhere else was always an option I kept on the table if Affinity went subscription in the future, which was always a possibility whether Canva was involved or not.

Sure.
I've also read the PR Puff piece Ash put out on the Affinity forums.

"Joining the family… blah blah blah… nothing gonna change… yadda yadda…"

Let's see when the VC partners want more than just their slice of the cake. In other words… the whole cake.

Edit:
Look I'm not blaming Affinity selling out and taking the money.
That's the way of the world… I'm not expecting them to run a charity.

I'm sure they were offered some life changing money.

 

[GeneralChang]

At least we'll still have the previously one-time-purchased copies.

This is the key here. Affinity going subscription-based was always a possibility, but that was never going to take away the apps I paid for in the first place. If the free updates stopped right now I'd be happily working away with my Affinity apps for at least the next 5-7 years before I'd start shopping for the next, non-subscription replacement.

 

[citysnaps]

if they turn to subscriptions, then nope.. bye bye. If however they come up with a one time payment real competitor to Lightroom (iPad version), then that would be amazing! So keen to drop that last Adobe sub.

I don't see that ever happening.

As an aside, Lightroom's most useful/interesting (and timesaving) features were released over the last few years when Lightroom was a subscription product.

 

[organicCPU]

Sad day!

A message to our amazing Affinity community

Today marks a momentous new chapter in our journey together.

affinity.serif.com

 

[TheColtr]

So everyone is worried about subscriptions, I’ll actually take this in a different direction. Im a graphic designer and I use Affinity daily, while also having paid access to the adobe apps because you can’t be a professional designer without adobe. Affinity apps are just so… much… better… they have a responsiveness that the adobe apps don’t have. Would subscriptions be disappointing? Yes, however Affinity suite severely lacks behind in two areas: AI and stock assets. If canva can build in their AI stuff (magic erase, background remover, etc.) and integrate their stock asset library into the affinity suite that would be KILLER.

So sad to see one time payments go? Yes, but I am very optimistic about the apps if canva can integrate what they have done in AI and their stock image library into the Affinity suite.

 

[GeneralChang]

Sure.
I've also read the PR Puff piece Ash put out on the Affinity forums.

"Joining the family… blah blah blah… nothing gonna change… yadda yadda…"

Let's see when the VC partners want more than just their slice of the cake. In other words… the whole cake.

This is a fairly pessimistic response to the situation. Given the way the Affinity suite has been developed there's no way for them to force a subscription model on their current users. Even if every word of their statement was a lie and the very next update to the suite moved the whole thing over to a subscription model... just don't update. I paid for the apps as they were when I bought them. The free updates were nice, but I'm already at least one minor version behind and it's not a problem. Even if Affinity suddenly, despite the promises they just made, went subscription tomorrow I wouldn't be shopping for a replacement for another 5 years at least. The apps as they stand today meet my needs.

 

[GeneralChang]

I’ve just checked and my Affinity software is still working as it did yesterday, whereas Gimp is still buggy as hell.

Every couple of years I check out Gimp and Inkscape to see if the open-source alternatives have caught up with my workflow needs.

And every couple of years I go right back to what I was using before.

 

[shadowboi]

Canva>Adobe for most users. It lets you make basic stuff online, fast and free. Back in the days I pirated Photoshop just for the free features are now present in Canva. Pair it with Pixelmator and you would not care about any Adobe product ever, unless you are some professional who needs the special stuff. For casual marketing 💩 Canva FTW

 

[WylyQuimby]

We’re pessimistic because acquisitions are rarely good news for the consumer.

 

[RedWeasel]

EDIT: I reckon it could be worse. Canva is an Australian, private company that’s been around since 2013 - at least it’s not some Wallstreet bound flash-in-the-pan AI company that’s public and it’s only role is to make more money for it’s investors.

They seem to be heavily financed by venture capital:

In January 2018, Perkins announced that the company had raised A$40 million from Sequoia Capital, Blackbird Ventures, and Felicis Ventures, and the company was valued at A$1 billion.[13][14][12] Australian superannuation funds Hostplus and Aware Super are known to be investors.[15]

During May 2019, the company raised another round of funding of A$70 million from General Catalyst and Bond and its existing investors Blackbird Ventures and Felicis Ventures, valuing Canva at A$2.5 billion.[16] In October of that year, Canva announced that it had raised an additional A$85 million at a valuation of A$3.2 billion and launched an enterprise product.[17]

Source: Wikipedia

So their role is absolutely to make more money for its investors. The only difference is that you and me cannot be investors

 

[GeneralChang]

ah yes, the ol' "no changes planned at this time" whenever a software company gets bought out.
PR speak for "the next major release will absolutely be a subscription"

Honestly I always kinda assumed the next major release of Affinity could be a subscription. This doesn't make it less likely to happen for sure. But I've got the software I paid for and I've already saved money over Adobe's monthly theft, to say nothing of the fact that I'm probably not going to need another design software upgrade for like 3-5 years in my workflow. So I'm still happy as a clam and I'll probably still recommend Affinity apps... at this time.

 

[GeneralChang]

Oh please don't degrade the quality of these apps - they are so good, I use them every day.

Personally I'm probably gonna hold of on installing any updates for a few months at least. If I don't let them install anything they can't break anything!

 

[javisan]

ah yes, the ol' "no changes planned at this time" whenever a software company gets bought out.
PR speak for "the next major release will absolutely be a subscription"

I bet they'll do the same as Capture One did: go to a subscription model, but keep a one-time purchase option that is priced so high that it won't be worth it. But they'll be able to say "yes, we'll continue to offer a one-time purchase option".