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Will Affinity switch to a subscription model in the future?


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I would be interested to get an official reply from Affinity to Apple's secret meeting in New York.

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The new way Apple wanted to promote: Instead of users paying for apps once, they’d pay on a regular basis, putting money into developer coffers on a regular schedule. Apple would still get a 30% cut of the subscription’s cost, but if a customer continued to subscribe after a year, Apple’s cut would go down to 15%.

Question for Affinity users: would you be happy, upset or somewhere in between if the next Affinity update was a subscription model instead of a one-time purchase?

 

 

 

 

 

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8 minutes ago, MyAmazingDiscoveries.com said:

Question for Affinity users: would you be happy, upset or somewhere in between if the next Affinity update was a subscription model instead of a one-time purchase?

Yes. devil2.gif

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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1 hour ago, αℓƒяє∂ said:

Yes. devil2.gif

Was that Yes, you would be happy, Yes you would be upset or Yes, somewhere in between?

Personally, I would be upset.

John

.

 

Windows 10, Affinity Photo 1.10.5 Designer 1.10.5 and Publisher 1.10.5 (mainly Photo), now ex-Adobe CC

CPU: AMD A6-3670. RAM: 16 GB DDR3 @ 666MHz, Graphics: 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 630

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1 minute ago, John Rostron said:

Was that Yes, you would be happy, Yes you would be upset or Yes, somewhere in between?

Yes, it was. :P

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12 minutes ago, John Rostron said:

Personally, I would be upset.

I can’t imagine any of us being happy about the introduction of a subscription model, unless we could see clear benefits and weren’t locked out of our existing files if we chose not to subscribe.

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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I personally think, it would make sense to drive on two roads:

  • Paid updates, because a one-time-payment wouldn‘t certainly allow a company to survive on the long run. If this isn‘t possible by In-App-purchases, it means to release a new updated v2 app.
  • Subsciption with a price, which doesn‘t exceed  (better: undercuts) the average update prices.
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10 minutes ago, mac_heibu said:

Paid updates, because a one-time-payment wouldn‘t certainly allow a company to survive on the long run. If this isn‘t possible by In-App-purchases, it means to release a new updated v2 app.

I believe that Serif is on that course for the Affinity line. They have said that updates made to version 1 will be free, but version 2 will be a charged update. We know they plan to have a version 1.7, but we don't know whether there will be any updates to version 1 beyond that.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
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Judging by the number of people stating on this forum they quit Adobe's products because of their subscription model
and switched over to Affinity I'm surprised there aren't more users voicing "upset". 

I certainly would be upset, being an amateur and not a professional user, and a retiree to boot,
I  simply could not afford to "rent" software.

Still,  I think that if push comes to shove, it'll be Apple who has the last say and that Serif, no matter what they'd prefer,
would have to bow to the omnipowerful giant --that is, if they want to continue to sell their product through the AppStore.

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I think the general answer in here will be a resounding NO! We would not be happy if Serif changed or adopted a different subscription model.

Affinity Designer;

Affinity Photo;

Have both attained the clientele they now enjoy because they do not have a cloud based subscription model. . .plus the fact they're both good bits of kit. :) 

Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.

These are not my own words but I sure like this quote.

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Serif may not have a choice if they want to continue selling through the App store.

They could, however, make a move away from the App Store :entirely up to them, is it not ?
BTW : It's quite normal to charge for a major update - such as from 1.X to 2.0.

In that case I think it's called an upgrade instead of an update. Numbering updates
usually runs from 1.0 to 1.9 or some such. At least that was the case when I was still
working.

And yes, they're both good pieces of kit , if not excellent  ! :)

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Subscription model... I'd be outta here, so, Leigh's post is really nice to hear. (they've mentioned it other times, and besides that, you can clearly see over the years that the thing about pricing is a constant: Always very good pricing.)

And..probably wouldn't jump to another commercial alternative. Would go the slower road, to open source (slower only because they count on a lot of less resources, and well, because with those tools and UIs... I am positive I'd be slower, even if I know them very well, for years) . But IMO the Serif's model is a really good one.  I dunno, in that horrid case I would might even just go back all traditional painting, with oils and canvas, and traditional comic drawing.... and with the PC...just coding websites, lol. For the plate of food.

Pay for updated versions if I need the features. Totally fine. Specially, at this range of prices, would do even if I don't need the features, unless is an update per month, hehe. (that'd be worse than a subscription :D )  . So, yeah, only one-time (+ upgrades) , non forced purchase software and open source for me, thanks....

And they had these same fears in the drawing communities when was launched Clip Studio Paint as a subscription-only in the iPad... Many warned that CSP for the desktop was also going that road... but no sign in these months points to that... and kind of makes sense... the vast majority of CSP users are amateur AND indy pros, it does not has the large companies market as a safety net for those risky experiments. But from what I am reading everywhere, freelancing is growing, as a model... soon it's gonna be seen as less smart to let freelancers fly to greener fields....  It'd be the way of the Dodo for them. They (Celsys, CSP) indeed have that for the desktop in Japan, BUT... is just a friendlier path for really small pockets... Is like they purchase a final version in quotas. When they reach the total one-time-purchase-cost, the software is theirs like a normal purchase, and they've been using it normally all those months. Sth that would have been accepted from Adobe, but what was/is offered by the top dog was quite different. I do believe is going to be very rare that an alternative, even this good, is going to go for subscription. The one needing to grab the market can't go with same bad habits.... It needs to offer advantages over the standard.  There's a strong resistance to leave Adobe, and yet masses are flying away...imagine from an alternative.

 

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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3 hours ago, mac_heibu said:

I personally think, it would make sense to drive on two roads:

  • Paid updates, because a one-time-payment wouldn‘t certainly allow a company to survive on the long run. If this isn‘t possible by In-App-purchases, it means to release a new updated v2 app.
  • Subsciption with a price, which doesn‘t exceed  (better: undercuts) the average update prices.

This is what Major UPGRADES are for.  If the company does a good job with a NEW VERSION, we pay to support the efforts.   I don't like the idea of a FORCED subscription, especially if I don't like what they have done with the new version.  This can also make the companies LAZY by not making improvements to the software since they would already be getting paid no matter what.  I am happy to pay for Major NEW GOOD UPGRADES , but NOT for forced subscriptions.

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2 hours ago, catlover said:

Serif may not have a choice if they want to continue selling through the App store.

The subscription model has been an option on the App Store for about 2 years - it's not mandatory.

AP, AD & APub user, running Win10

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AD/AP can be 1 time purchase, but you can't say anything about AD/AP Pro, AD/AP Extra or such... MS Office has both models, for whatever purposes. I do all drawing stuffs in Clip Studio Paint, it's 1 time purchase on desktop, but asks for a subscription on ipad :4_joy:. That's business for you. It all depends on how the company visualizes their future, and whether or not they have enough power to swing their sword.

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I reaaaaally really wish they keep their pricing and selling style just the same way.... The lite and pro version is often a way to make the pro really go high in price, and the lite not being really useful for any serious work. They had also very affordable prices in the previous software generation, and they have been among us for many years. So it clearly works for them....

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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2 hours ago, stokerg said:

I can safely say we have no plans for that and as Leigh has pointed out, no plans for a subscription based service either :)  

But what if the powers that be decide to release an extra-special, super-elite ultimate version, complete with a hydraulic ramjet peanut butter spreader tool? xD

(The first person to identify the reference will get a "like" from me. No pushing or shoving. My decision is final. Offer void where prohibited by law.)

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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10 hours ago, R C-R said:

But what if the powers that be decide to release an extra-special, super-elite ultimate version, complete with a hydraulic ramjet peanut butter spreader tool? xD

Count me in :)

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11 hours ago, R C-R said:

But what if the powers that be decide to release an extra-special, super-elite ultimate version, complete with a hydraulic ramjet peanut butter spreader tool? xD

 (The first person to identify the reference will get a "like" from me. No pushing or shoving. My decision is final. Offer void where prohibited by law.)

Don’t look now, but I think your gyro may have a gear loose! :P

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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18 minutes ago, αℓƒяє∂ said:

Don’t look now, but I think your gyro may have a gear loose! :P

For those interested, @αℓƒяє∂ recognized that "hydraulic ramjet peanut butter spreader" is an invention of Gyro Gearloose, a Disney comic book character.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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