An artist backlash just saved Adobe Animate

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Adobe took just 24 hours to rethink its termination of the former Flash.

Adobe Animate logo
(Image credit: Adobe)

Adobe's been a driving force behind creative software for decades, and it likes to emphasise how it listens to creatives. Just yesterday, it announced the creation of the new Adobe Creative Collective to keep tabs on how work is changing in multiple fields. Nevertheless, it still has an uncanny knack for upsetting long-time users.

The software giant dropped a bombshell for animators this week when it sent out an email announcing with a month's notice that it would discontinue Adobe Animate from 1 March. Existing users were told they would lose the ability to download their content 12 months later.

Adobe Animate is the great survivor of creative apps. It might not be among our top picks of the best animation software, but it's still the program of choice for thousands of artists thanks to its simplicity and versatility for 2D vector animation.

It began life in 1996 as FutureSplash Animator and was soon rebranded as Macromedia Flash after a buyout. Adobe bought Macromedia in 2005 and renamed the program as Adobe Flash Professional to distinguish it from the player, Adobe Flash Player. In 2015, the name was changed to Adobe Animate to remove the association with the Flash format. The Flash Player was retired in 2020.

Some long-time users described the announcement of Animate's demise as being like seeing Flash die a second time following the change to a subscription format as part of Adobe Creative Cloud a decade ago.

On X, one person described the decision as an "industry-killing move". Others pleaded for Adobe to make the software open source if it was no longer willing to maintain support. The makers of the surreal comedy web series Chikn Nuggit warned that the decision would harm jobs and result in the loss of historic creative work.

The retirement of creative apps is sometimes inevitable as technology changes, but Animate users were particularly taken aback by Adobe's decision to withdraw support and the ability to download content.

Some were also incensed by the suggestion in the email to consider After Effects or Adobe Express as alternatives, as if the latter's free animation presets are remotely comparable with the tools in Animate.

Today, Adobe posted a statement on its website saying: “Animate will continue to be available for both current and new customers, and we will ensure you continue to have access to your content. There is no longer a deadline or date by which Animate will no longer be available. These are changes from what we shared in our original email.

“Adobe Animate is in maintenance mode for all customers. This applies to individual, small business, and enterprise customers.  Maintenance mode means we will continue to support the application and provide ongoing security and bug fixes, but we are no longer adding new features. Animate will continue to be available for both new and existing users - we will not be discontinuing or removing access to Adobe Animate.  

“We are committed to ensuring Animate users have access to their content regardless if the state of development changes.  ”

Writing on Reddit, Adobe's director of community Mike Chambers apologised for the upset caused by the previous email. “What we shared did not meet our standards and caused a lot of confusion and angst within the community,” he said.

“Animate will continue to be available for both new and existing users. This is a change from what we communicated in the email yesterday for the status of Adobe Animate, its time-frame, and availability.”

See below for Creative Cloud prices if you're convinced to give Animate a try now it's a going concern once more. For another animation rescue story, don't miss Ikea x Tiny Chef, and for inspiration check out Sony's GOAT character design secrets.

Joe Foley
Joe Foley
Freelance journalist and editor

Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.

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