FCP: MotionVFX plugins subscription after Apple acquisition?

No one knows for sure at this point, we can only speculate - but I think that Apple will integrate MotionVFX's plugins into Final Cut Pro and/or Motion. I don't think Apple ever acquired a company just to have their income stream as a separate revenue source, Apple doesn't need that, so when Apple acquires a company, it's to integrate them into their products, apps, or services. Maybe Apple will make Motion into an actual After Effects competitor by integrating MotionVFX's plugins into Motion, but I hope that it's to strengthen Final Cut Pro.

Based on history, Apple will take the technology into their own products in very minimal ways. They've never blatantly brought in products like that. So, don't get your hopes up. Motion has historically gotten very little love, as has Compressor. I'm not hopeful. Apple has publicly stated repeatedly over the years that Motion is NOT an AE competitor. Just look at Apple's history of acquisitions, it's almost never been blatantly converting their products into their own, but minimally adding tech in the background. Yep, look at Apple's history of killing products both of their own and of those they buy.

I will say this much for sure, MotionVFX literally lied to us about mO3.

Hi (bonjour),

There is nobody from Apple here, we are just Final Cut Pro users like you. You can use Apple’s feedback page to port your suggestion.

Feedback - Final Cut Pro - Apple

Michel

But yeah, what does "joining the Apple team" mean? It's not the same as being "acquired by Apple." What team, exactly, and in what fashion? Maybe it means they simply have a direct line to the Apple dev team? Maybe they became officially registered developers? But joining a team and being bought out are not the same thing. If they have been bought, what happens to current subscribers? Yeah, there's tons of questions to be answered before any of it makes sense. And personally, I've never been a huge MotionVFX fan, outside of mO2. When I ran a TV station we bought a ton of their stuff, and decided a lot of it was wasted money, because most of their templates had very little variation. But that's all just personal taste. Looking forward to some more specific information about what "joining the Apple team" actually means.

When a company buys another, it buys its assets, its products, it's clientele, it's liabilities, its debts, and its promises/obligations to its existing customers. So given that Apple has now bought motionVFX, by definition it has to honor it's promises/obligations to its customers, along with everything else it's acquired from this company. That means that existing mO2 owners will be offered a one-time purchase for the plugin/app that will succeed mO2 as repeatedly confirmed by MotionVFX (with whatever name that will have, eg. "mO3" which MotionVFX said that it might be named but has been keeping their loyal customers endlessly waiting, and buying more products from them in the meanwhile while waiting for the mO2 successor). So, Apple, we are all waiting for you to launch it and keep the promises/obligations to us of the company that you purchased (and since you made FCPX no longer work with FxPlug3 thereby rendering mO2 useless/unusable to us since), and make the successor (under whatever name; "mO3" or whatever you choose) available to us mO2 owners (and heavy MotionVFX spenders) as a one-time purchase with no greedy "Adobe-style" subscription/rental models. We are waiting Apple.

In this case you are wrong. Because I am not referring to anything “implied”. I am referring to the company itself having on multiple occasions over the last four years (…) specifically posted this one-time purchase promise of the successor of mO2 (projected as being named mO3 all those times) for all existing mO2 owners. This has been posted by them on their site, on direct message replies to multiple customers, and as replies to posts on various forums and platforms. So nothing of what I wrote is “implied”, nor wishful thinking. These are specific promises made by this company via which it has kept its existing clientele, loyal, and continuing to purchase their products while they are waiting. The mO2 successor. So, clearly, if Apple has acquired this company, along with the assets and existing customer base, it has also acquired liabilities and obligations. It’s simply how this works. So I am unsure about what the example you gave has to do with what I am talking about.

Just a commentary...

Way back, I bought mObject (the forerunner to mO2). I thought it was **GREAT**!! I told Simon, personally, that I hoped Apple would buy it from them and I could tell he liked the idea, even then... but that didn't happen... then.

Later on, I was anticipating the release of mO2... but... there was **never** an "upgrade path" for those of us who had previously purchased mObject. I was rather ticked off. There was no way I was going to buy it again at an even more expensive price than the original. I have been expecting the same for mO3 (no upgrade path from mO2). So there is no "promise/obligation" for this particular product implied — there is no precedent for it. Don't be surprised if there isn't an upgrade pricing for it... Also, 3D has *not* been a big draw for Motion. There may never be an mO3.

Just sayin'...

Hello BenB,

Thank you for your reply.

”Apple has publicly stated repeatedly over the years that Motion is NOT an AE competitor.”.

Can you link to sources, or at least a single source, when they said this? I would be really curious to hear these words out of Apple’s own mouth, as I believe Motion is intended to be a AE competitor, just an incredibly low-effort one, especially nowadays considering they add tools like the Magnetic Mask (with more advanced features) into Motion, that isn’t really that useful if Motion is still supposed to be only a templates generator for Final Cut Pro.

I've been an Apple Certified (Master) Trainer since 2006. Apple has said repeatedly over the many years in several venues/formats that Motion is not and was never intended to be After Effects. I can not cite you a specific quote anywhere, but yes, they've made that statement publicly many times over many years. If you think that is incorrect, cite a source where Apple claims they are competing with AE. There are none. Today, Motion is a templates generator for Final Cut Pro. That's basically it. Anything put into FCP or Motion eventually ends up in the other. Because they both use the same render engine. I stand by my statement, Apple has said publicly over many years from time to time that Motion is Motion, not AE, and not an AE competitor. But you are free to have your own opinion.

1 - MotionVFX's statement says they "joined" the Apple team. They do not used the terms acquisition or buy-out. Media outlets are using those terms.

2 - Apple itself is not commenting on this at all.

Thus; what does " joining the Apple team" actually mean? The word "joining" does not have the same definition as the word "acquisition".

Yes, they’ve made promises, even on a FB mO2 user group that mO3 was coming soon. Repeatedly, over 3 years. I gave up on them. IMHO too many of their templates look far too similar. But. I did use the heck out of mO2. I miss it a lot.

bump

Thank you for sharing your knowledge BenB. I’m happy to hear that Apple has confirmed that Motion is not an AE competitor.

nounix is correct, MotionVFX has made public comments over the past few years, fact.