Canva Buys Affinity - What Happens Next?

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The sale of Affinity and their design software to Canva is a bit of a surprise but there are some silver linings to this news.
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[@chintex_]

Canva will be dedicated to the pricing until they have enough people relying on the software to change it to subscription. It's inevitable.

[@trowawayacc]

Yep. I hope that is all they do. But looks like they are buying in the AI bullshit.

[@thestellarelite]

Came here to say this. Every company runs on the bait and switch "don't worry bro it's cool..." method lol. I wanted to try Afinity but I need an After Efects alt. Oh well another day another acquisition.

[@knarsnico]

The only "fair way" is change to a "hybrid" system. like Waves who have the suscription and "pay to own" systems at the same time on music production did or something like "rent to own" system. This ways can be really good to diversify but... they are brands, enterprises... so... xd

[@illikaspain]

FACTS!!!

[@frankboyer1490]

@@knarsnicoWaves is hot garbage

[@dinkyshopYT]

This is bad news. I bought Affinity because it wasn’t Adobe nor Canva. I hope they keep all the pledges, but I see corp greed killing it 7-12 months later. Adobe needs a competitor that isn’t Canva.

[@tams805]

I bet Canva took on some debt to finance this.

[@greymatter33]

I'm 100% with you on everything said, your story is my story. We needed Affinity and now we're stuck with Adobe or Canva.

[@TheLuconic]

Don’t worry. Whatever version of Affinity you bought will still be a stand alone. But I can’t say the same for any future versions of it. So for now, it’s a stand alone price.

[@lumex1713]

I am still opertunistic

[@q.edwards4891]

"Four pledges to the community" Yeah... giant, money grubbing corps never break their promises. Ever.

[@ChrisPollard]

The email they sent led to FAQs that literally say that subscriptions are in the future "along side perpetual licensing" ... which means the perpetual licensing is already planned to be phased out. At least I'll get to keep my existng V2 stuff. Canva already changes their pricing models way too much. Signed on for a Teams account at work at the end of November, billed at the end of December, model changed the first week of January ... to a model that makes no sense, since an individual Pro account was actually slightly less than a Team account. Normally you get discounts for volume licensing, Canva seems to run backwards to that. Plus, when you add an existing Pro user to your team, they bill you twice! I have very little hope of this ending well for Affinity users. We might get a year or two, but it's corporate merger ... that always ends in what's best for profits.

[@SmallPotatoe82-dt1kh]

@@ChrisPollard we get the keep v2 until they’ll terminate our access to their servers, which 100% will happen in 2-3 years. We need access to the offline apps, but despite numerous questions in their forums, Serif (which doesn’t even exist anymore) is deafening silent.

[@soullessemperor6572]

dont make me cry

[@hershmysson]

I love that one “fun” example that google used to have a “don’t be evil” code of conduct or clause somewhere and they removed it a few years back

[@tronam]

Is Canva a corporation though? I thought they were a privately owned company.

[@AtomLabX]

5:54 - No, you are wrong my friend, that does not take any concerns or doubts away, if anything, we all know it going south, because every company did the same. Maxon when they bought Zbrush, they said the same thing, and what now? Zbrush is a subscription. Maya buying Arnold. Arnold is a 300 dollars a year now. Adobe buying Allegorithmic, the people who made substance painter, and it is a subscription now… Do you see where Im going with this? So no, this does not take any of the concerns we have away.

[@andrecruz100]

I hate subscriptions😢

[@AtomLabX]

@@andrecruz100 We all do, but seems like Brad love them

[@fsb6724]

Canva owns Pixabay and Pexels. Nothing changed from that purchase.

[@purple6012]

Time to use cracked versions instead.

[@ignacio4719]

They will probably ruin everything with subscription payment.

[@sarahs1368]

Ugh worst nightmare

[@barbarianlife]

Yep. Oh well.

[@pupawupagus]

my immediate thought as well. “can’t wait to pay for a subscription on something i 100% own.” I can write the email, too! “in order to keep you on the bleeding edge of technology, on [date] we’ll be retiring the affinity suite. now you’ll have access to all these tools and features no one asked for for $20/mo, and your perfectly good programs will cease to work”

[@tonydejesus2134]

Says the guy who clearly didn’t watch the video or read Canva’s statement.

[@jdcv17]

Yeah, like with what happened to Vectornator/Linearity Curve. Ugh!

[@lego_minifig]

I am now terrified for the future of Affinity. I don’t have the best impression of Canva and feel they will just ruin the pro-consumer feel of Affinity. I hope I am wrong and instead we see Adobe improve from the ramped up competition Canva can provide with their resources.

[@wayslow]

The usual will happen, as in any other acquisition, owners are promised to keep their promise to the clients, but are probably required to stay on board for a year or two. After that - they cash in, leave and the "always will be" promises are either going to be slowly chipped away or just removed all at once

[@trowawayacc]

Coorporate america is cynical cicle.

[@LarcTald]

C l a s s i c

[@Dan-kb2oz]

@@trowawayacc Except it's Britain and Australia.

[@tams805]

@@Dan-kb2oz Even worse. We have a habit of inventing and building stuff, then selling it off.

[@NathanaelPotoski]

"Trust us, bro. We're definitely not going to force you into a new subscription model. Never. Nope. Not us....."

[@poqpoq580]

2026: sike

[@aldebaran_]

Wink wink

[@renealbrechtsen9743]

And they also totally promised a couple of years back that nobody were going to acquire them.

[@NathanaelPotoski]

@@renealbrechtsen9743 I vaguely remember this. So yeah, just doubling down on the "trust me, bro" vibe. lol

[@SmallPotatoe82-dt1kh]

Said everyone else never.

[@davivify]

I HATE when a larger company buys either a sofware product or the company producing the product. Why? 1. I figure nothing good can come of it. If nothing else, the prices will rise 'cause the buyer wants a ROI. 2. Creators will be fired. In an effort to save $$ the buyer will lay off staff to save expenses. Which will weaken the product. 3. The buyer will NOT have the same vision for the product lovingly created by the originators. It will basically become a 'cash cow'. 4. Often a product is ruined in an attempt to load it up with marketing driven features that are often kludgy and cumbersome. Examples: Visio drawing tool, SketchUp, XARA Extreme, Sibelius. My advice: get it before it gets "improved".

[@gameon2000]

true, SketchUp and Xara reincite a real PTSD in me. still using old versions

[@edgarallanmendozacampos29]

It's not be the first time that a company offers something and then retracts it and all traces of the "statement" disappear.

[@StefiStarlite]

I'm not terribly confident in their "pledges" and even then, the wording really leaves a lot to interpretation (what constitutes "Affinity" - the software suite, the concept, the tools within the suite, etc). As always, I appreciate the video and info all the same.

[@paulneuhausWriter]

This happens in video games all the time. I can’t think of a single instance where the big company didn’t ruin the smaller one.

[@mauree1618]

almost like it's an intended business decision to buy competition and milk it to death.

[@LightsOnMultiMediaMindArts]

The first thing every company says when they been taken over is "Oh, don't worry. There won't be any changes. This is just an opportunity for us to improve our products." And that's never true. There are always changes and a loss of vision. It's because corporations are only about profit. They are never about Art.

[@KuttyJoe]

There's no loss of vision in this case. It's more like the realization of a vision in this case.

[@SmallPotatoe82-dt1kh]

@@KuttyJoe that makes less sense than a Kafka novel.

[@KuttyJoe]

@@SmallPotatoe82-dt1kh Wow. So you're saying that you don't understand what I said?

[@SmallPotatoe82-dt1kh]

@@KuttyJoe I said that you don't understand what you're saying 🤷

[@KuttyJoe]

@@SmallPotatoe82-dt1khMaybe English is your 2nd language so you don't quite get it. It's OK.

[@Fr0stbite1801]

The biggest selling point for affinity is the non-subscription model. That's gonna evaporate instantly. Hope they have fun being poor by then.

[@tristen_grant]

Keep in mind that Canava is big into AI. So, expect Affinity to probably use its users to train/steal for their AI.

[@brandtrobinson690]

I was literally about to buy the suite because it was a one time purchase. Then i saw this video, smh.

[@hendrx]

@@brandtrobinson690 but you will get to keep your license key, buy the software now while its not late

[@lunchmoneyog]

The pledge was only created to calm the current 3 million Affinity users so not to scare the investor. But once Canvas 170 million users are exposed to the apps, loosing 3 million users by breaking said pledge is just a drop in the ocean. Don’t be fooled by the marketing, they said they weren’t going to sell and yet they did.

[@Haregue]

I see this going in the wrong direction

[@blankblank8548]

lol

[@ToddDolce]

1000% agree!!!

[@wakuyanow]

I'm assuming Affinity will go subscription, much like Clip Studio. I I don't have any subscriptions, and I have trouble understanding this new world where everyone has subscriptions for everything. To me, subscriptions would feel like multiple drains emptying out my money vault. Small cuts. Small cuts everywhere. Bleeding to death by small cuts. A penny here or there might not be so bad, but most subscriptions seem to be calling for $5/$10 here and there and there and here and here and there. The addition of that is too scary for me. If I really want something, it is mentally easier for me to gradually set cash aside for a one-time purchase - hopefully, bought on sale.

[@JCGCompositions]

I agree. If I only used one piece of software, paying a few dollars a month wouldn't sound so bad. But I've got six art programs in 2D and/or 3D, some of which I'll go 6 months without using at all. As a hobbyist, I can't afford to go subscription.

[@Cyber_Kriss]

"You'll own nothing and be happy" said the WEF overlord 😈

[@TsukatsukiRio]

CSP still has perpetual licenses

[@TsukatsukiRio]

CSP still has perpetual licenses

[@szopcore]

"Small cuts. Small cuts everywhere." is such a good way to put it 😥

[@timjohnson2533]

They will weasel in a way to force people to subscribe. Always take anything that a company says with a grain of salt and a lot of scrutiny. They may keep Affinity as a 'perpetual license' but strip out features or make updates 'subscription only' much like Clip Studio's recent nonsense. They are going to want to make the acquisition money back as soon as possible. I don't know if Canva is publicly traded, but if they are, accelerate that pace by 10 because investors will be sad if 'line doesn't go up' as soon as possible. It's unfortunate. They really were an absolute rival to Adobe's subscription services, but I'm very, very skeptical when I hear 'company A bought out company B'. It's very rarely a good thing. I'll use my current copies as long as I can, then move on to the next 'rival' until they're bought out. It's the way of Software these days.

[@lethercreate]

Canva went public late last year or early this year. I don’t remember.

[@jamesbullo]

RIP Affinity

[@iaina3251]

I guess we'll all be either jumping to another app or riding the pirate seas!

[@starlxrd868]

Affinity is still around

[@thespooner3906]

This honestly crushes my soul.. im so tired, so tired of things turning out this way. you get people who create something to go against the big guys with a good product, good support only to get bought out by dollar signs and turn INTO them and eventually suffer the same fate.. sad af..

[@IIFrozenFlame]

Best medium case scenario is what Clip Studio is doing, and that's if a particular version is already complete, a person can buy a perpetual license for that particular version. No more updates though, but that's how they devolved once they went v2

[@TheDuzx]

Adobe has discounted pricing for schools, but that is quickly expensive to the point where some schools in my area already cut out Adobe and many others have given a internal memo this year to evaluate Adobe bcause it's so fucking expensive (also budgets got cut this year). If the Canva+Affinity tools just so happen to be free for schools a lot of schools are going to move every student and faculty member they can over to that. I don't know what to think of this, but I hope it can position Canva+Affinity as a real competitor to Adobe. Adobe has had an effective monopoly for decades now and it's time for them to see competition.

[@karinchristensen220]

Or Adobe is a silent investor in this.

[@TheDuzx]

​@@karinchristensen220 afaik they would have to dosclose that because Adobe is public.

[@Gerogie]

I hope they don't lean to hard into ai. It's one thing to erase a light pole or extend a background, I canceled my adobe subscription because it was like they wanted me to tell a computer to make some random crap, rather than make something myself.

[@lethercreate]

Too late. Canva uses its users files to train the AI. So they will be taking ours too.

[@tristen_grant]

They already are heavy into AI.

[@vero.ssoares]

yeah lol i was thinking about switchin from adobe precisely because of that now im just sad i guess

[@htsunmiku]

might go the way of clip studio etc A yearly update that you have to pay for.

[@tristen_grant]

Krita is also great.

[@DetourShirts]

Great video Brad... nice to hear another perspective on the whole Canva Buys Affinity thing.

[@acemanev964]

Just look at the past, companies who offered their products a perpetual license only to change it to a subscription base product... Adobe, Filmora, Zoner Photo Studio, MS Office - so I don't see why Canva will not adopt and apply the same to Affinity products, it is a way to make more cash flow into the company to pay for their lattes and moccachino's 😀 .. As a user I have the options to pay or move to another app, and there are alternative apps available. Sure there do not have all the bells and whistles but if you do not need or use those features regularly I do not see the reason to pay for something that I do not use.. I moved away from Adobe to Affinity because of this reason..

[@albaraa_PC]

You right, but Filmora still has perpetual license and subscription option

[@niedzisiaj6645]

Canva implementing AI doesn't give me much hope for the future of Serif. Implementing it into affinity software would be such a let down, I really don't know why creative software is scrambling to put AI into their programs. Eventually when the AI gets good enough people won't even bother buying their software anymore and furthermore the people who use their programs are those who work for customers that AI drives away.

[@5thdayadventures]

I love the Affinity suite I've been using it for years and it can do way more then I even know how to use. I just wish they would come out with android versions to put my Galaxy Tab.

[@Dan-kb2oz]

Just saw someone else saying that hopefully with Canva involved an android app might come along. I'm guessing Canva already have an android app.

[@lakeoflads]

@@Dan-kb2oz Yeah Canva's available on Android.

[@Amaling]

All we can do is support open-source programs. It's clear that in this capitalist setting of digital platforms, they inevitably degrade to exploitation. Having Krita and Blender for 2D and 3D art and animation is already incredible, I don't do much other creative work but I hope other open source creative softwares will receive more and more community support as time passes

[@mwhite212]

The full write-up of the pledges does say if they do offer a subscription (aka when) it will be alongside the perpetual license for those that prefer that pricing structure.

[@doaflamingo3713]

see what happened with clip studio paint

[@mwhite212]

Yes, they have perpetual and subscription service. So does Corel, Quark, Sketch, Filmora, LuminarNeo....and I'm sure a bunch of others.@@doaflamingo3713

[@trowawayacc]

The subscription will be 20 the buy 2000$ happened with a ton of other software. Consumers are bonned. Looks line adobe at least is the devil you know.

[@mwhite212]

People literally ignore what has been said by Affinity and Canva, and what you're suggesting is simply not accurate. Corel is $250 for the subscription for the year and $549 for the one time purchase. LuminarNeo is $199 for a one time purchase and $11.95 per month. Filmora is $64.00 for one time purchase and $42 for the year subscription. @@trowawayacc

[@sloppynyuszi]

@@doaflamingo3713I’m totally off Clip now. They made it so convoluted, you either subscribe or move away.

[@gamerheroine]

I appreciate you did the research and found that pledge. I've been shaking in my boots as a user of both about potentially moving to a subscription service for affinity

[@possiblecat]

I'm very happy with Affinity, but if they eventually move to a subscription model, then I'm gone. The problem is, what alternatives are out there? The landscape looks a little barren to me.

[@SgtMajor82]

Corel Suite

[@possiblecat]

I've heard good things about Corel, but I'm on a Mac. Maybe I'll give Clip Studio a try, combined with something else.@@SgtMajor82

[@mathieul4303]

Yeah Vectornator (I don't remember the new name of the app) became subscription based and limit the amount of free work you can do (limit of 3 "or something like that), really disappointing

[@lethercreate]

Inkscape and Linearity

[@tristen_grant]

Krita.

[@Wanooknox]

Given the cost of the Canva subscription plans, I'm betting the new "perpetual license" they plan to offer WILL BE perpetual, but also very expensive. They can't justify their "PRO" offerings being so much more affordable than the existing suite of layman friendly design tools. But there's no way I see them steeply discounting the subscription costs... So I'm betting on the Affinity suite prices creeping up a lot over the next 2 years. If I had to guess a number, $300 per application, or a rent-to-own scheme that works out similarly expensive.

[@ValdemarDeMatos]

Yes, it will be complicated to make the numbers match

[@Dan-kb2oz]

With that in mind, do you think it wise or unwise to now spend the £84/$106 on the current spring upgrade offer to Affinity V2 and the bundled add ons? As I only have Affinity Photo V1, I'm still tempted to spend it for V2 of not just Photo but Designer and Publisher too and the extras.

[@Wanooknox]

@@Dan-kb2oz I bought the complete v2 pack way back when it launched. I haven't really used Publisher, but Designer is a fantastic bit of kit. If you like Photo v1 and know you will use them, I think it's money worth spending. The current v2 licence is perpetual and mine gives me access to the apps on all supported platforms. So the value is good, the tools are excellent, and you get to keep it at least until it no longer works on future operating systems. The only big weakness I've found is that the brush engine is really slow and laggy. So it's not great for natural drawing and painting. But it's perfectly serviceable for masking and selections.

[@Wanooknox]

@@Dan-kb2oz I tried to reply to this already, but I guess it failed. The gist of my reply is: Yes. Buy it now if you think you will use it. I bought the full 2.0 pack on sale when it launched. Had great experiences with Photo and Designer. Haven't touched Publisher. The only draw back IMHO is that their brush engine is really laggy, so I would not recommend them for pure drawing or painting. But for photo manipulations, vector designs, and embellishing with raster brushes it's great.

[@oh-noe]

@@Dan-kb2oz yes. But they won’t give you version 3 when that release. If you want version 3 you’re gonna have to pay again

[@arvinsim]

I am not terribly confident that they won't go subscription. So the real question is, where do we go from here?

[@PharanBrush]

Thanks for the update, Brad!

[@WLVFX]

My concern is that there's no mention in that pledge post, of users who already purchased the affinity perpetual license, if updates will remain free. And will they have to purchase an upgrade in the future?

[@JuanManuelTastzian]

I would say they will remain free as long as they are under the v2 versioning (like it happened with all v1.x until v2 came out) So technically they can come up with v3 whenever they want and cut that as well, though My only concern is that since the app needs internet to be activated, does this mean that in the future such check can go down and stop working if they go all in to a subscription model? I just hope not, but wouldn't bet on it.

[@NopeNaw]

Looks like they're going the Clip Studio route, which is sad: "These additions will further cement Affinity as the best advanced design suite on the market and will be released over *the coming year* as free updates to V2." That's year, not years. Meaning we can expect v3 next year, and v4 the year after that.

[@dplj4428]

Detour T-Shirt’s Juna published his use of Canva with Affinity about 2 years ago. I wonder…

[@AntGeezer]

Canva didn’t pay $1 billion dollars (ball park) for Affinity just to leave it ‘as is’. The 90 staff at Affinity had better start planning ahead. Same goes for end users.

[@MrCrook]

I’m glad the put out that pledge. It’s a good sign. But we are all up to our necks in services that used to be good but through venture capital and acquisition those services have all been ground to dust. For example, I’ve stopped using Google almost entirely because the search result were so bad. It’s hard to have faith in the current environment.

[@petrkrejci7994]

Hello, I am like 4 hours new into this graphics, adobe, affinity, design world and I've stumbled upon your video while deciding whether to buy Photoshop, Affinity or Canva pro, taking the price into consideration. What would ya'll recommend? Right now I'm keen to get affinity 2 but I got scared after this video 😂. Will the Canva collab affect my Affinity app in the future if I buy it for example tomorrow for the full price? Also, are Affinity 3,4... Coming? I'd be grateful for any answer ♥️

[@Dragon21Studios]

This is interesting and I want to see where they would go, and hoping against hope that they wont change much in pricing and subscriptions.

[@2dgameartguru]

The one thing missing in your video is the big picture - the plan of Canva to go public. Serif is a nice cherry on top to sweeten the deal for the potential investors and strengthen the position as a prime Adobe challenger. In the end money will talk... and those pledges will have to stand the test of time. At the moment I am cautiously optimistic... but a lot of things can happen that are 'not on the bingo cards'.

[@MrJimArt]

When will affinity create an after effects alternative? I would have dived in years ago if they had this. Does anyone else feel the same?

[@RichardSilvius]

I had no idea Affinity had finally released Publisher for iPad - I’m really stoked about that. Last time I wanted to lay out a Photobook I had looked for an app to do it on iPad and found nothing - except that Affinity was working on Publisher. So now that it’s out I’m excited to give it a try on a couple of projects I’m working on. As for Canva buying them… if they want to challenge Adobe I’m all for it, I just hope they don’t ruin the wonderful things Affinity has been doing. I’d rather Affinity influence Canva than the other way around.

[@KuttyJoe]

People were crazy to think that Affinity wasn't trying their best to figure out how to get a subscription. Nobody can resist getting a check every month regardless of work put in.

[@athinasdesigns]

All this time I was hoping they create a competitor software for after effects and now they are bought by the company that makes professional designers look like a joke😢😢😢

[@TransformXRED]

Davinci Resolve is free and has Fusion Davinci Resolve "Studio" is a one time payment and you have access to the stand-alone version of Fusion too.

[@ctaylor960]

I love using Affinity over Adobe and Davinci over Adobe...buy once and it's yours...can't beat that...

[@tha.nhaaa__]

Which pen are you using please reply

[@Rebelnightwolfe]

Say goodbye to your perpetual licenses. And install programs on more than one device. Down the line they'll make the changes silently. New updates locked behind a new license fee.

[@Mendrawza24]

Hopefully that means Affinity for Android

[@AA-xj6ho]

This really needs to happen or else it's not truly going to compete against Adobe properly.

[@mobarakjama5570]

I pray for an android version.

[@surrcram]

If that's the case, fucking finally

[@chilecayenne]

There are android computers now somewhere?

[@joshmv]

That was my very first thought as well. It sure would be nice to have for something like the Samsung Tab S9.

[@user-ig5qy1hl4d]

Here is the roadmap: Mid 2025: Ash, the CEO leaves the company End 2025/26: AS 3.0 is released, one-time-fee for the basic, pro online features are a sub 2027: AS 4.0 or maybe 3.5 is 75% sub based Bye AS … or at least a complete assimilation / rebrand Now, a lot of us leave the ship. Serif has betrayed its own brand and those who made it: us, the community. I didn't see anything like that in modern times, where a totally beloved "David" has a stronger community than "Goliath". And then, from one day to another it stabs us all in the back. Autsch!

[@billbowman8747]

I initially hated this news. As a longtime professional designer, illustrator, and educator, I have always found Canva's "Here use a template, that'll be good enough" business model very distasteful and counter productive. Okay, it's a done deal, I am prepared to give Canva the benefit of the doubt and hope they don't screw this up. With that said, the reality is AI is a much larger threat to the livelihoods of designers, illustrators and photographers. That genie is out of the bottle and it's not going back in. Moving forward it is going to be even more difficult for creatives to be respected for their talents and their years of hard work honing their craft. It will also more difficult to be fairly compensated for their work. A friend of mine who is a very talented illustrator was at her photographer friend's show. A guest at the show was gushing over one of her photos but then said that she wan't interested in purchasing the photo, she would just "describe her photo" into an AI app and it will just generate it for free! I guess they pretty much had to hold the photographer back! AI has some good legitimate uses, but it changes the game entirely for creatives…and not in a good way.

[@surrcram]

I use canva frequently for my design assignments in college, and as someone who has 4 other concurrent creative projects given out weekly, it really does help a lot to have the stock images, fonts, and cloud share ready when I need to do something from scratch. I also use it alongside affinity when I want to port it for more complex work, so it was very jarring to hear about the acquisition. I can only hope for them not to mess this up

[@kirtanamrita2302]

As someone who uses Canva a lot for designs, I can guarantee you AI is so useless, a real creator's designs are infinitely better in so many ways. Don't buy into the extreme ai hype.

[@billbowman8747]

@@kirtanamrita2302 right now, yes. AI is getting better at a rapid pace. If you think it’s not going to negatively affect the livelihood of designers, illustrators, and photographers you are kidding yourself. This isn’t hype.

[@athinasdesigns]

AI is a creation of capitalism. The only way where I believe right now it cannot damage designers is the fact that it cannot create from a branding marketing point of view. It might spit out stunning visuals but can they be applied to a brands context? I haven't used it though so Idk it's capabilities I've just seen some videos and a few examples of what it does. It's not even legal it has access to every source on the internet meanwhile we are not allowed to download a background linage from Google and use it on a profitable design. It should be restricted for both ethical and legal reasons but of course they won't do that. No matter what they do they can't replicate the human feeling. And as Ash Thorp says. Ai doesn't know what im going to create next. I think from a concept designer point of view and creative direction it cannot defeat us yet. I really hope they put some legal restrictions to it. But that's a dream too far fetched. I saw digital marketer in Instagram using ai to edit his videos. It's insane and sad

[@billbowman8747]

@@athinasdesigns I am not saying that AI will make all creatives obsolete but it’s already affecting the livelihoods of illustrators and photographers and AI is in its infancy. The other day, I watched an AI program build an entire website in under a minute based on a few prompts. Yes coders will still be needed for tweaking and such and I’m not suggesting that this technology is perfect but again, this tech is new. AI is absolutely going to cost jobs for creatives. It’s already begun. I am more than happy to rejoin this discussion with you in 5 or 10 years.

[@Duskydog419]

Background removal with be the first feature pretty sure. Canva is using something like clipdrops subject separation

[@tristen_grant]

They'll probably switch their payment plans. They've also said they wouldn't be sold to anyone... and here we are.

[@shaquillemckenzie5573]

Will I be able to create a design/template in Affinity and share it to be edited in Canva by someone who doesn't have access to affinity?

[@hasanwajahat]

Reeks of corporate greed. Hasta la vista Affinity!

[@busywl69]

Damn I just purchased it. Hope I can continue to use this version 4eva as is.

[@krabbediem]

I've been busy with other stuff so I really didn't know until I saw your headline. I find it disturbing. Now I realize that Adobe is Adobe and that Canva is Canva, and I also acknowledge that because some companies treat paying customers like peons, not all companies treat their customers this way. In that light, I will confess that I had never heard of Canva before I saw this video so I may be way off the mark. But I clearly remember Adobe promising to keep a subscriptionfree version of Lightroom available for sale, something they happened to "forget". "But that sounds quite innocent. Just keep using the software you paid for, what's the big deal?" It means that I cannot upgrade to a newer camera and that lenses created after a certain date will go unrecognized, as the software conveniently no longer receives any functionality updates only security patches IIRC. So I was literally bound to never upgrading to a more recent camera beyond the latest supported (think of Canon EOS R5 or the lenses associated with the system). I felt so betrayed by that revolting scheme that I dropped them last year out of simple disgust of having Adobe software on my PC (aside from Adobe Reader). I grew to revile Lightroom and Adobe and lost desire to take pictures and use the software. Anyway, my point is I've just noticed that companies once they grow to a certain size, they stop respecting and acknowledging the individual customer as a vital partner, and start to see them as serfs they can treat and ignore as they see fit becuse people have been conned into serfdom of their services. My prediction is that "Affinity" will ditch each of these four pledges over the next few years, and that you (and yes, I do mean you) likewise will forget that any of these four pledges ever existed. It's the exact same observation that Lord Achton wrote about in 1887 "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

[@Itielbryce]

They have stated that they are going to have a subscription plan but it will be alongside the perpetual license

[@ahadmrauf]

If Canva paid hundreds of millions of dollars to buy Affinity, they're expecting much more than that in returns. I always assumed Canva would get more professional editing tools, but I always assumed they'd make them in house and cater to the usual Canva user. I hope Affinity at least honors previous perpetual licenses going forward.

[@tristen_grant]

Why would they add more editing tools when AI is their big plan?

[@lisayoder5686]

I just bought Affinity also. Of course it will turn to subscription only...oh, they wont say it that way, but the suites that we all just purchased to get OUT OF the horrific subscription model will just one day, with no notice (just like this was) 'no longer be supported' by platforms. Of course it will. I thought I had FINALLY found a way out of buying subscriptions! I'm not a pro, I just want to create items for my own use or a small, neighborhood sales use. I am not a corporation that needs ONLY the 'latest and greatest'...I want a program that can create what I ask it to, and NOT BE BILLED into infinity and beyond!

[@tkarlmann]

Another company buying Affinity means three things: Prices are going up, up, up; OR they will shelve the program in favor of their own; OR they will go subscription-based. Bah, you say, didn't you read their 'Pledge'? Well, after they uncontrollably raise their prices, you can run around the block where you live, waving that 'Pledge'.

[@dodopurpura]

I think the logic is an hybrid system: You can get Affinity with some tier of Canva, as a part of a subscription. But you can also buy them if you are not a Canva user. That will increase a lot the user base and a retention path for them. The subscription give them a good money flow to keep developing Affinity.

[@JuanManuelTastzian]

Before the pledge I was very worried and sad, as I love the Affinity suite and it would be sad for me if they ruin it. After the pledge, I'm a bit more hopeful, but still, business is business and if daddy Canva decides what Serif said doesn't add up, then yeah, ugly stuff will happen. My only hope is that if they go subscription based, they lose the main attraction for professionals who don't like Adobe's model and ways. If they just turn into "the Adobe suite clone with less features that no one wants to use in a professional environment because no one else uses it", people would probably jump back to Adobe just because of the fact they will have less issues collaborating with other professionals. I hope they don't screw it up. I love Affinity.

[@SmallPotatoe82-dt1kh]

there is no hope after the acquisition. there never is.

[@BilliesCraftRoom]

The non subscription aspdct, was a key selling feature for me too. Really detest the subscription model so many are going over to. Eg an onljne creative course site, had regular discount days, at which point I would get quite a few from my wish list. Now to get the discount prices, there is a hook that you have to get locked into one of the subscription options! As someone said, starts great for the customer, then the xxxtification begins, till your locked into a subscription model, and then it gets degraded for the amount of available content unless you pay for higher and higher 'tiers' of the subscription! Gutted. Love the Serif product and very concerned about their sale to Cava.

[@Frankfrynk]

They don't say they're not going to change to payment by subscription.

[@signx]

I liked Affinity not only as a fine suit of professional design tools but also as a user conscious company with integrity, and commitment to quality and improvement; I guess all that is gone now... Again waiting for the next honest try by some other company. Damn Adobe to hell!

[@user-hj1pd2do5b]

I wondered how long it would take for for a large corp to buy Serif/Affinity (and which one it would be). Now I know (Reminds me of when Adobe bought Macromedia). Canva is finally "going pro". This is a major step toward them becoming a serious alternative to Adobe's Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign applications. Great for Canva but probably not so much for the consumers, pricewise, in the long run. I agree that a subscription model, for those apps, now seems inevitable.

[@morizanova]

I suspect the other option for Serif was bought by Adobe and slowly shutting down just like several products of Macromedia . Maybe not really something affinity users want to hear but for Canva users the path to upgrade into more pro app like that will be exciting . Curios what they`ll take as first integration step . Canva commercial font access int Suite for free ? or bring parametric basic shape plus shape builder into Canva ?

[@mountainmansimulations]

At some point in the past Adobe did try to purchase Serif, but the US government prevented this due to potentially creating a monopoly.

[@coucamaya]

Hopefully this means an android app is coming soon for Affinity. I'd use it if it wasn't for their lack of an android app

[@CosmicKangaroo]

I would honestly love to see an Affinity Editor, an Equivalent to Adobe Premiere, cause I did enjoy using Premiere when I had Creative Cloud.

[@MadmarxOfficial]

Just use DaVinci Resolve, even the free version is absolute gold

[@Geeklania]

In 2022 they promised they would not sell the company and well, we have seen what happened.

[@Innesb]

Affinity didn’t promise anything. They posted a comment on Twitter, “Ain’t nobody buying Affinity”. My understanding is that the comment was a response to a rumour that Affinity was for sale, which was untrue at the time. Based on available facts, Affinity was not looking for a buyer; Canva approached them.

[@tristen_grant]

@@Innesb So... someone bought Affinity. So I guess them said "Ain't nobody buying Affinity" wasn't true.

[@Innesb]

@@tristen_grant ​As far as we know, it was true at the time the statement was made. Someone said Affinity was looking for a buyer at that time, but it was untrue at that time and, as far as we know, Affinity had never looked, and was not looking, for a buyer. What we do know is that some years later Canva approached them. Have you ever made a statement that was true at the time you said it, but was not true later? e.g. If someone asked me 25 years ago, "Are you getting married? ", I would have said, "No, I am not getting married". However, I am now married. That doesn't mean that I lied; the statement was true and in no way disingenuous at the time I made the statement. Had the Twitter post stated, "Ain't nobody buying Affinity and we promise that we will never sell Affinity", then we'd be having a different discussion. The OP of this thread stated that Affinity “promised they would not sell”. If you want a lie, look at that claim.

[@mind_of_a_darkhorse]

I have to say, that I am very leery about the buyout! Time will tell if it is good or bad or mediocre!

[@TuppyMSM]

Yo Brad are you ever reviewing Huion Inspiroy 2?

[@007Yasir]

I’m an Adobe illustrator user, and have used Affinity for 5 years, it is a very pro app, but the only reason I’m on Adobe’s CC, is my clients use Illustrator, large corporations have an account with Adobe to use Photoshop or Acrobat pro and end up defaulting all their apps with Adobe. Even though some fonts are no longer, PostScript Type 1, supported by Adobe, Affinity still support it. Just this week I used Affinity Designer for a job that had a type1 in illustrator.

[@robertmcmorrow5093]

I wonder if livetrace will happen now.

[@barbclark69]

Having just given up Adobe for Affinity, I’m nervous about this. Reminds me to keep all output portable.

[@JimParmenter]

For Affinity long term survival and viability this makes sense. Pricing? Time will tell. If Affinity folks stay on that would be a good sign, if all the brass bails not so much.

[@teekstiptime]

On a different note could you please do a review of Valence 3D it looks interesting…

[@servingcant]

Well it was fun while it lasted…

[@SellyS.]

Whoa! That's big news!

[@thebradcolbow]

Yeah! it definitely got my attention 😄

[@aliciabuchanan7080]

When I first got affinity they promised free lifetime upgrades and then they came out with version 2 I was going to upgrade but with the Canva thing not sure cause I would hate to upgrade then have a new version come out a months later

[@TheGameBench]

Forgive me if I have zero trust that this won't transition to a subscription based model eventually and the perpetual licensed version will eventually stop receiving updates.

[@RyanRuark]

Microsoft Office still has a perpetual license model but new features only roll out consistently to subscription customers. I expect we’ll see a similar model here. And I sincerely doubt perpetual will be available at all to education and NPOs.

[@iaina3251]

This will mean that updated to the Infinity suite will slow down while they focus on integration with Canva. The pricing WILL increase, it's just inevitable when big corporates get involved. I also suspect that there will be a high priced desktop app (so they don't immediately break their promise) but this will be an old/legacy or paired down app and the subscription pricing will be for the full-featured app. These things never go well for us consumers. (sadly)

[@iaina3251]

Remember when Adobe bought up Macromedia and all those other companies and told the users "Trust us bro, this is a good thing" and look what happened to Cold Fusion or Director or Homesite, or Soundbooth, or GoLive or Freehand. I have and love Affinity Photo but thought it was a good time to buy Designer as (a) it's on sale at the moment and (b) it's almost certainly going to have a price hike soon or goes subscription.

[@TransformXRED]

​@@iaina3251GoLive.. Omg I forgot this name! I remember when we started to use it back in the day. That was a good piece of software.

[@pfortunato78]

If they want to give away Affinity for schools, they need to bite the freaking bullet and build for Android since the vast majority of public school kids have a chromebook. That and, there are so many good Android-based tablets that are yearning for a pro level suite of graphics software. Apple did such a good job marketing their product that all developers mostly neglected Android on this front. Its time for Affinity to make the move and cover more bases than Adobe at the same time.

[@thebradcolbow]

Ohmygosh that's a GREAT point!!

[@charlievarley]

I would love to use them, on my Samsung TAB s8+

[@redleader5625]

No big players are serious about paid apps on Android because it's super easy to sideload a pirated apk. It's just a lose-lose for them in general.

[@wr31rf]

@@redleader5625 clip studio is on android tho

[@chilecayenne]

A Chromebook's isn't powerful enough to run full versions of the Affinity tools...

[@Riccardo_Mori]

Affinity got the money. Canva made a great investment. Customers got a huge rod up their arses. Same old fucking song.

[@virtualshift]

Do you notice how they didn't say they would keep the pricing the same, just that they would keep it low. Low is very subjective. I'm really glad I also also own Photomator and Pixelmator Pro. I have a feeling this will be the last time I buying any of the Affinity apps. I just feel like every time something like this happens the products go downhill.

[@JohnJohn-fz6nt]

I often think back to great photography and graphic design that influenced me and remember that it was created in a completely non-digital era. Adobe at least deserves credit as a graphic design pioneer. Photoshop. Pacemaker/InDesign (which took on behemoth Quark XPress). Illustrator. Acrobat for pre-press. Type Library/Type on Call. All no biggie now but huge advancements then. It was an exciting time, before this era of endless retreads and the ultimate retreader...AI.

[@kcoppa]

I would love to see image generation and background remover inside Affinity.

[@roycarter2797]

When they switch to subscription based pricing I will switch to adobe. Most people use adobe and the only difference is their pricing. So switching would actually be easier to follow along when video presenters refer to editing techniques they use in light room or photoshop.

[@jhon.vectorize]

Nice review mate, I believe now Affinity can boost strength to compete Adobe, and I can imagine new possibilities of new features coming. I'm optimistic Canva wouldn't invest so much money just to kill an app that is not even his direct competitor. I think Canva wants to expand to more Pro users, like you said :)

[@Virtual_Maid_Miyu_Full_Menu]

I am glad they are competing against adobe, I hope they make a after effects alternative (one that is layer based and not node based like fusion) call it Affinity Effects

[@lanlinked]

Since I started using Clip Studio, Affinity Designer has been the only thing keeping me on an ipad pro. Since Canvas is on android maybe they’ll encourage affinity to develop and android version too, the I can switch to a Samsung tablet. Or they’ll ruin it. Either way I can switch.

[@unleashthedog]

This is totally out of the blue for me too! Canva, I only saw ads like a year ago the most recently... and I figured they were just the ugly duckling of the design tools startups.

[@jimtipton8888]

With this infusion of resources, I hope they develop a LR alternative and add it to the suite. That or buy On1 or Luminar.

[@Dan-kb2oz]

At least then Luminar would bloody work with Affinity Photo, as for years now Luminar will not work as a plugin in Affinity Photo (V1 on Mac at least). I originally bought Luminar 2018 and Affinity Photo as they looked like a great alternate pairing to Photoshop and Lightroom. Sadly whilst both are good, they've never cooperated. No joy with Luminar 3 or Neo which I'm on now. Not bothering with their subscription stuff either. Apparently people got them working together on Windows, but no such luck on Mac.

[@Lia_T]

Yes, I'd like to see a Lightroom style app with Affinity but potentially a Bridge style app with Lightroom features. Yes integration with Luminary or onOne would be great too, as I already have this. I've been trying to wean myself off Adobe for years since the subscription model came in. I am a long time user of Canva since it started, as it offered free use for my non profit. It has developed a lot from very small beginnings. And despite not being a professional choice it has lots of uses. They bought Pixabay in 2019 and Pixels and haven't messed with those except to integrate the images into the Canva offering. I'd like to see Android supported by Affinity - I bought an iPad just so I could use it for drawing as my Galaxy tab couldn't be used. Although having Canva on Android has been very useful, so think it is likely to be one of the features they develop for Affinity. That and more collaboration options.

[@Dan-kb2oz]

@@Lia_T Somewhat reassuring to read that Canva didn't mess around with previous acquisitions. To me, it makes far more sense for them to make tools from Affinity available to their existing 175m users for small subs or one of payments, rather than messing around trying to get their money back by trying to convert the 3m perpetual Affinity license holders on to subscriptions, many of whom clearly won't. I see not much change other than nice updates/additions until version 3, which could be more modular like Luminar Neo. That would certainly aid Canva in allowing their users to just use individual tools for a fee. I'm drawing/painting in Affinity Photo v1 with a Huion pen display and have had a cursory browse of iPads but I too would just be buying to paint on it. And from watching one of Adam Duff's recent videos it seems that the 2022 iPad Pro is kind of the oldest version to get, with nothing earlier supporting hovering pen. I don't wanna be spending close to a £1000 on a used one just for painting. Here's hoping Apple release a competition killing iPad like pen display/computer. Doubt they will tho. I'd like to see Affinity on Android too, and as Canva already is that seems one of the most likely things to happen. I'm just now pondering whether to spend £84 on the offer to go from Affinity Photo v1 to v2 of all three apps and the add ons in the Spring offer. :/

[@amielterence]

“You were the chosen one Affinity, you were supposed to destroy the sub not join them” - Obi Wan probably

[@alunlloyd9812]

I hope they keep to their word, but I’m sure within 2 years there will be new things most professionals won’t like. Also could you please review more monitors from an artist perspective, like the new oled from lg etc. think those would be great videos

[@MrSzwarz]

Thing are getting more comlicated for users, costs, subscription and too many different fuctionalites, which are useseless for 90% of users (see Adobe) I lost a track of what Adobe has in offer, even thou I uses PSD since version 4. Now I have no idea why we need so many other platforms.

[@SketchUK]

As an educator, I'm happy to see them offering it to schools for free. I hope they extend this to students (i.e. let them register for a free license with their school/college email address) as this will allow the motivated students to continue to work at home. I really hope they port the iPad versions to Android, or even make it browser based if possible.