Affinity is joining the Canva family. RIP ?

[Pyanepsion]

Quote

 

Canva's business model is subscription-based. Are there any plans to change the way Affinity is sold?

There are no plans to change our current pricing model at the moment, as all our applications are still available as one-off purchases.

 

😱It is clear that the Affinity suite will eventually migrate to a subscription model, as this is Canvas' business model.

Quote

 

Will my Affinity applications still receive updates?

Yes, we have a number of free updates planned for V2.

 

😱In other words, there's nothing planned after version 2.

[fde101]

22 minutes ago, Pyanepsion said:

It is clear that the Affinity suite will eventually migrate to a subscription model, as this is Canvas' business model.

This is not at all clear.  There are plenty of companies which own other companies but have different business models from the companies they own.

Image-Line (makers of the DAW FL Studio) own several highly recognizable plugin vendors (ex. UVI) which have very different business models from I-L itself; they have owned several of those companies for several years now and have not made any attempts to change their business models.

I am taking a wait-and-see approach on this.  There is no point speculating, only time will tell.

 

24 minutes ago, Pyanepsion said:

In other words, there's nothing planned after version 2.

No, in other words, you will need to pay for version 3 just like you had to pay for version 2 when it came out.  Free updates to v2 for those who own v2, then pay for v3.

 

[Kenzor]

We are here because of the affinity pricing model

Kill this pricing model and kill your user base.
But your going to do it anyway and pretend that will be different somehow.

Adobe has massive feature set for its subscription that Affinity can't compete with
Canva has nothing to offer me .

It's obvious what's going to happen, and gushy executive mailouts just destroy our trust a bit faster.

I need to plan a business. I'm tired of this corporate BS, causing perpetual chaos. 

 

[Pyanepsion]

@fde101,

I've seen successful companies bought out, the CEO kept on, and 2 years later the CEO was fired and the company changed its business strategy. The mere fact that the CEO is waffling on these points means that a change of policy is on the cards.

In Canva's acquisition strategy, several companies that initially offered products sold on a one-off purchase model have seen their business model evolve towards a subscription model, in line with Canva's overall strategy of operating largely on a subscription model.

[Dannie]

We have used PagePlus/Affinity Publisher for many years. Our appreciation for the non-subscription model was beyond measure and a key factor in our faithfulness to the Affinity team.

Since we work on projects with others across the country, each person having their own one-off license and coordination of efforts was perfect. However, within minutes of today's announcement team members began sending messages of discouragement.

It doesn't seem to take much imagination to read the message for what it seems to actually say. We surely hope we are not reading into the recent Affinity announcement any more than what was intended.

[Anonymous Puddle]

25 minutes ago, Kenzor said:

We are here because of the affinity pricing model

Kill this pricing model and kill your user base.

This is the sad truth that they think won’t really happen. They will convince themselves that they’ll keep enough of the user base. Wrong. Affinity built its user base on trust and an ethical pricing model. Canva has neither of those.

[StudioJason]

Welcome to the Liars Club everyone. 
Canva is a DIY replacement tool. You’ve just added your entire User Base to the replacement pool. 
All this time, big talk about professionals, standards, quality, NEVER a subscription model and more, turns out after all to be nothing more than any other Sellout. 
‘Even when forced to purchase V2… and we all did, it was the product believed in “by professionals, for professionals” without being greedy like Adobe having subscription.

And here we are. Canva has nothing your current Users need… as everything Canva can do, WE your Users (you know, the ones that kept you in business) already can do with current Affinity products. 
‘All of the touting and Marketing, and support in MINDSET more than anything… of denying the Adobe Subscription greed train, is finally revealed. 
The only thing mildly good hearing this news, is you didn’t layoff your current Dev Staff… but that’s only because Canva HAS NONE to keep it functioning. 
‘Guaranteed… as soon as the Subscription comes, and it WILL (we all know it), even your/they will be obsolete… so kudos.

Makes perfect sense now as to why fixing or updating your iPad V2 hasn’t happened in several months to a year even though reported numerous times. 
All I know is, I purchased BOTH V1 and V2 of all three Affinity apps for iPad… not even the Universal License as some (which YOU recommended)… and expect to be able to use them in perpetuity as you claimed in writing. Else the term Class Action happens, which is typical where PROFESSIONALS are concerned.

Enjoy your money Sellouts.

[MikeO]

My two cents is that Canva just decided to go all in on competing with Adobe Express; and instead of creating their own creative tools, they bought some. Tools like Express and Canvas are a really big deal in my space, higher ed. Nearly every institution either has one of these two (or a competitor) or is planning to implement one (we certainly are at this Tier 1 research university). I'm hopeful that Canva has more money to throw at feature requests we've been asking for for a long time because of their need to compete directly with Adobe. Time will tell of course.

I'm still with all of you skeptics on whether their pricing model will be retained; I hope if they do add a subscription it'll be part of the Canva subscription many are already paying. And the apps will still be available for purchase individually for non-canvas users. That's my hope at least.

[rasterweb]

Add me to the list of users/customers who will find alternatives is a subscription based model is adopted. I came to Affinity products from Adobe because I prefer purchasing software once rather than renting it forever. Hopefully CanvAffinity gets that.

[aonyn]

Yeah, I am very discouraged with this message from the CEO.

I am a former Adobe user, who moved on when they went subscription. Bounced around with tools, all go to some kind of at least semi subscription model.

Then I found Affinity, and have loved it, haven't looked back.

I am a pro user who is here because of the non-subscription business model. 

 

Any be coincidence, my brother in law and close friend, who also is a pro user, and is an adobe guy who has to renew his subscription in a few weeks, and is considering a new tool set, well I sent him the link here to affinity. He first question was, its not a subscription model is it. Said he has zero interest if it is a subscription model.

I unfortunately have to call him shortly and retract my recommendation , or at least give the disclaimer that I am not confident it will remain non-subscription.

This makes me sad, because just yesterday, I had all the confidence in Affinity to put my word on it, and today, that is no longer the case.

[Aging Violinist]

37 minutes ago, aonyn said:

Yeah, I am very discouraged with this message from the CEO.

I am a former Adobe user, who moved on when they went subscription. Bounced around with tools, all go to some kind of at least semi subscription model.

Then I found Affinity, and have loved it, haven't looked back.

I am a pro user who is here because of the non-subscription business model. 

 

Any be coincidence, my brother in law and close friend, who also is a pro user, and is an adobe guy who has to renew his subscription in a few weeks, and is considering a new tool set, well I sent him the link here to affinity. He first question was, its not a subscription model is it. Said he has zero interest if it is a subscription model.

I unfortunately have to call him shortly and retract my recommendation , or at least give the disclaimer that I am not confident it will remain non-subscription.

This makes me sad, because just yesterday, I had all the confidence in Affinity to put my word on it, and today, that is no longer the case.

I hate to make "me too" posts, but in cases like this, the more voices the better.

Affinity Photo has been a great tool and I've come to really like it, but I won't hesitate to jump if it goes subscription. Subscription-based software only exists because so many just agree to it instead of saying "no way!", so they know they can get away with it.

I would be happy to pay an upgrade fee for V3, but I would absolutely not agree to pay again and again and again to "rent" it; that just harms me financially.

So I hope you're listening, Canva, but just based on experience, I doubt you care when those dollar signs are floating in front of you. I hope you do the right thing by your customers, but that's not usually how anything goes these days.

 

[DMeis]

I am also very disappointed by this announcement. I'm sure that the Serif executives will do well, and I hope the employees receive some of the financial rewards, but I am deeply pessimistic about the future of the Affinity products.  

[geothefaust]

I rarely post, but this is one of those times I am compelled to.

The sole purpose I switched to Affinity was because of the license and the oath to be perpetual non-subscription based licensing. Bork that, and I'm out.

Allegorithmic made the same mistake with adobe. I still use the last perpetual license they had for Substance Designer+Painter. I will never support a company that uses a subscription based software unless it also offers perpetual licensing in some form.

For those that say, "Come on, give them a chance", "We don't actually know what they'll do", "you're being an alarmist!", etc. - I've been working professionally for nearly 20 years and several more as a hobby with software like this, this isn't my first rodeo with corpo buyouts like this one. The writing is on the wall. Sure, it might last a year or two more in the form it is now, but it won't be for long.

In short, I've downloaded the latest build and jotted down my serial for safe keeping, in anticipation for the eventual subscription only model, whilst I await the next tool to come along to use.

[Ranpo]

I use both affinity and canva. Affinity for pretty much everything design wise and canva for quick social media / animation elements and collaboration.

I have the pro version of canva due to the charity status upgrade they offered (I do a lot of volunteer work), I use it for quick social media templates (99% of elements I've made, 1% of stock, 0% AI), the animation elements of it and the collaboration features because I need to share items with members that dont have any experience in design. But I wouldnt pay for it if I had to.

The best outcome would be they keep Affinity as a paid licence software set and not subscription based and V3 brings animation and collaboration elements and groups.

I dont think they'd go subscription based, it just wouldnt survive with adobe, so the most likely outcome is affinity dissolves and canva inherits all of the affinity elements.

[backj]

7 minutes ago, Ranpo said:

I use both affinity and canva. Affinity for pretty much everything design wise and canva for quick social media / animation elements and collaboration.

I have the pro version of canva due to the charity status upgrade they offered (I do a lot of volunteer work), I use it for quick social media templates (99% of elements I've made, 1% of stock, 0% AI), the animation elements of it and the collaboration features because I need to share items with members that dont have any experience in design. But I wouldnt pay for it if I had to.

The best outcome would be they keep Affinity as a paid licence software set and not subscription based and V3 brings animation and collaboration elements and groups.

I dont think they'd go subscription based, it just wouldnt survive with adobe, so the most likely outcome is affinity dissolves and canva inherits all of the affinity elements.

Sincerely hoping this is the path forward.

[vildy]

We have been using the trial version of all 3 of the Affinity 2 products for our church's E magazine and on the verge of buying the full package while it is on sales for $114.99 USD, but we may pause after this new revelation and look elsewhere for a non-subscription based windows and Mac app

Edited March 26 by vildy

[TobiWahnKenobi]

I've been using Photoshop since version 3 (in the 90's). Last version I had was the last perpetual license.
I've been using Cinema4D since version 8. Last version I have is R25, the last perpetual.
I've been using Serif since V1 as soon as it came out. Bought alle updates, universal versions for Mac, Win and iPad. Converted my father who publishes schoolbooks, converted everyone in my family, friends, coworkers. V2 will be the last version I buy, because I expect it to be the last perpetual. I will not rent. I will tell everyone to evaluate other software. I do not trust companies that sell off to someone who is deeply into subscription.

I paid maintenance for Cinema4D yearly because you could use the latest version AND keep it in case you could one day no longer afford the upgrades. It cost thousands of Euro but I had the security of owning the software. Then the ex-CEO of Adobe became CEO of Maxon. Trust destroyed.

Please Serif be very careful and considerate with your next steps because we all have been burnt to many times to give you/anyone the benefit of the doubt.
If you seek rent we can go back to Adobe.

[alienfruit]

Mixed feelings about this, happy for the team that they got acquired but as a customer I am less excited. I really liked that you could buy the software without needing a subscription. I hope it will stay like for the coming years. If not, I think I will just switch back to Adobe Creative Suite.

[wickedpup]

Same old, same old......and now Affinity/Canva think they can take on the behemoth that is Adobe, and in a short time (in the name of profit) they'll be ignoring the only thing that makes them different......that they are the only "no-subs permanent license" option.....and thus a slow death awaits.....stupid is that stupid does.

[Aging Violinist]

53 minutes ago, geothefaust said:

n short, I've downloaded the latest build and jotted down my serial for safe keeping, in anticipation for the eventual subscription only model, whilst I await the next tool to come along to use.

I plan to do this same thing myself, but I am curious about one thing (since I've only ever installed Affinity Photo once):

What happens if I need to reinstall at some point in the "Brave New Subscription-based World"? Will that license still be able to activate? What happens if (more likely when) the ability to activate old licenses is removed? From what I recall, it needs to authenticate to a serif server when installed, right?

 

[Spelmann]

Why should I continue to use Affinity Suite for just one more hour if they switch to the subscription model, and everyone knows that this will happen? Then I might as well go to Adobe. It's just not interesting. The champagne corks are popping at Adobe right now.

(Translated with DeepL)

Edited March 26 by Spelmann
Language Info

[geothefaust]

1 hour ago, Aging Violinist said:

I plan to do this same thing myself, but I am curious about one thing (since I've only ever installed Affinity Photo once):

What happens if I need to reinstall at some point in the "Brave New Subscription-based World"? Will that license still be able to activate? What happens if (more likely when) the ability to activate old licenses is removed? From what I recall, it needs to authenticate to a serif server when installed, right?

 

I am no lawyer, but in the simplest terms, It would be a major issue if they did do something like that, legally speaking, since they sold you a product and can't shut off an existing working product and it's associated license if you didn't agree to those terms.

A good example is what Allegorithmic/adobe did, is told us to download the license and installer files, then removed all traces of them from their website. So it's on us to save those files and pray they never become corrupt or get lost (keep backups of backups!).

[Aging Violinist]

25 minutes ago, geothefaust said:

I am no lawyer, but in the simplest terms, It would be a major issue if they did do something like that, legally speaking, since they sold you a product and can't shut off an existing working product and it's associated license if you didn't agree to those terms.

A good example is what Allegorithmic/adobe did, is told us to download the license and installer files, then removed all traces of them from their website. So it's on us to save those files and pray they never become corrupt or get lost (keep backups of backups!).

I certainly agree with you that if they did that, it would come dangerously close to a bait-and-switch and open them to massive lawsuits/class-actions.

Now, I'm a photographer/musician, so when it comes to legal contracts and licenses and such, I am not within my area of expertise; my eyes glaze over and I respond with a hearty "Pfooey!".  But... and I'll admit I didn't look into this yet, don't most licenses have a clause in them stating something to the effect of "We reserve the right to revoke this license at any time and basically for any reason, so sod off!"?  Wouldn't that be their way out of any liability?

At any rate, I emailed Serif/Canva support and asked specifically what assurance I have that I will be able to continue to activate and use my perpetual license "in perpetuity" in the event that I, for example, upgrade computers and need to reinstall. And specifically what will be my options when that authentication service inevitably disappears over the long term. I shall report back my findings to this thread.

 

[VectorVonDoom]

2 hours ago, Aging Violinist said:

I plan to do this same thing myself, but I am curious about one thing (since I've only ever installed Affinity Photo once):

What happens if I need to reinstall at some point in the "Brave New Subscription-based World"? Will that license still be able to activate? What happens if (more likely when) the ability to activate old licenses is removed? From what I recall, it needs to authenticate to a serif server when installed, right?

 

v1 is always going to be fine activation wise as far as I'm aware as it just validates the serial number locally. v2 needs the activation server to still be up and running if you need to re-install on a new machine/os re-install. I can't imagine the server going any time soon but if they do ever decide to kill it off, as Adobe did for their old versions, then they could possibly change it to work as v1 did and send out serial numbers to customers. But I don't think that's something to worry about yet.

Probably a bigger worry is if/when an os update breaks things (I'm looking at you Apple!). But that isn't any different to now.

[Aging Violinist]

3 minutes ago, VectorVonDoom said:

v1 is always going to be fine as far as I'm aware as it just validates the serial number locally. v2 needs the activation server to still be up and running if you need to re-install on a new machine/os re-install. I can't imagine the server going any time soon but if they do ever decide to kill it off, as Adobe did for their old versions, then they could possibly change it to work as v1 did and send out serial numbers to customers. But I don't think that's something to worry about yet.

Right, I certainly hope they have a mechanism.

Is there still even a place to download older versions (v1)? I'm a relatively new user to Affinity and only came on board with v2 (though I've quickly grown to like it very much, which only makes this situation all the more aggravating).