Adobe Animate: End of Life and Support Timeline

What utter [Edited for language. -Moderator].

That is all. 

why wait till now to do this 

What sense does it make to restrict access to a fully functional, widely used piece of software that many people rely on for their livelihoods? If continued development or support is no longer possible, there should at the very least be a long-term download option, or the software should be released as open source.

If this is how Adobe handles its products, I’ll have to look for alternatives to other Adobe products I use so I’m not put in the same position when Photoshop or Illustrator suddenly disappears.

What is actually wrong with you? Animate has been the industry leader for over 25 years, and the majority of animated shows today are still built with it. It’s also uniquely the last true vector animation software designed for the web. You would have to be REAL out of touch to kill that.

AI sucks. This is a huge mistake. By prioritizing trendy, overhyped AI nonsense over real tools used by legitimate creators you’re choosing to flood the world with more sterile, hideous trash. As a 20+ user I have to say your company just sucks. I’m now actively looking for ways to replace all of your software and I don’t even care if I have to relearn everything. And I know whatever Adobe employees (if any) end up reading this, that you could honestly care less. But I still want you to know how much I hate your company and have only used the products begrudgingly over the last several years. And I really hope you lose a lot of other “subscribers” over this.

Does Adobe have a suggested alternative for HTML5 banner ads?

Animate used to be sold as a perpetual license. One of the posters below speculated that Adobe might have to pay license fees for certain code included in the application, and is therefore too stingy to continue paying the licensors. If that is really the case, at the very least, convert Animate back into a perpetual license that is automatically granted to all your subscribers, and send us each a permanent unlock key.  Perpetual licenses worked before for many years with whatever license agreements Adobe happened to have, so I imagine that the terms of your agreements still cover this option.
I’ve used Animate and Flash since the beginning -- even took a class downtown SF with one of the guys who first developed it (Future Spash) and sold it to Macromedia. It’s ridiculous that Adobe would even consider locking artists out of their life’s work. This sends a big message far beyond Animate, that Adobe has no loyalty to its customer base and that users of other Adobe applications better watch out. It was disruptive enough to lose Fireworks and Dreamweaver. Animate users might appear to be a small piece of Adobe’s pie, but this could be the canary in the coal mine. Not only will you lose a lot of subscribers, but I imagine that in seeing this kind of mercenary corporate behavior toward its customer base, many investors will see an opportunity to short Adobe stock into the dust.

You guys love losing customers don’t you?

This was quite literally the only reason I stuck with Adobe. Guess that’s ending now.

This was easily one of the only unique software left (even for just vector illustration, sometimes it beats Adobe Illustrator in certain cases). All of your other software has had better alternatives existing for years and you chose to end this one. You guys are so out of reach, it’s crazy. Can’t believe you had the audacity to rebrand to Adobe Animate yet show no support for traditional animation and continually push for puppet/bone style animation as if that’s Adobe Animate’s strength.

You call yourself a “creative suite” yet you continually neglect your users who actually want to make something good and are willing to pay you despite the endless bugs. Yeah go ahead and bet on AI generation. See how far that will go.

no pls i just started using it

Dear Adobe Team,

Thank you for the many years of great software. I received the announcement regarding the end of service for Adobe Animate, and I would like to share my concerns about file access after the discontinuation.

-- Current Usage --

I use Adobe Animate to develop and operate a mobile game app called "Fushigi na Ikimono Funyamorake" (Mysterious Creatures Funyamorake).

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.jp.co.piisu.airfunya
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/jp/app/id950614962

I use Animate on a daily basis for the following purposes:

- Creating in-game item graphics (numerous assets including complex animations)
- Designing and laying out UI (linking symbols to classes and exporting as SWC)
- Producing various animation assets

This app is an ActionScript application running on Adobe AIR (maintained by HARMAN). It has been in continuous operation for over 10 years since its release in 2015. It is still actively used by many players, and we plan to continue the service going forward.

-- Concerns --

According to the announcement, access to Animate's FLA/XFL files will end after March 1, 2029. This creates the following serious problems:

1. Editing existing assets will become impossible
   If bug fixes or UI adjustments are needed while the service is still running, we will have no way to make them.

2. Years of accumulated production data will be lost
   FLA files contain layer structures, symbol hierarchies, timeline animation data, and other information that cannot be preserved through simple image or video exports.

3. Some workflows cannot be replicated by exporting to other formats
   In particular, the workflow of linking symbols to classes and exporting as SWC cannot be replaced by simply exporting images or videos.

-- What We Would Like Adobe to Consider --

We would appreciate it if Adobe could consider any of the following options:

1. Provide a perpetual license version for viewing and editing FLA files

Please consider offering a perpetual-license tool with limited functionality that allows users to open, edit, and export FLA files after the subscription ends. No ongoing maintenance such as new feature additions or new OS compatibility updates would be necessary. The current version as-is would be perfectly sufficient.

2. Open-source Adobe Animate

By open-sourcing the Adobe Animate editor, the community could continue development and maintenance. For Adobe, this would eliminate post-EOL support costs. For existing users, it would open a path to continue using FLA files well into the future.

-- About Adobe Animate as Software --

Adobe Animate is, to me, a truly one-of-a-kind piece of software. The seamless integration of vector drawing and animation creation, intuitive motion editing through the timeline, asset management via symbols and libraries, and the tight integration with ActionScript for interactive content development — no other software brings all of these together in a single tool.

I have been creating with this tool for over 20 years, going back to the Macromedia Flash era.

-- Final Thoughts --

Adobe Animate is an irreplaceable tool that has been loved by countless creators and developers throughout its long history, stretching back to the days of Flash. While I understand the decision to discontinue the service, the fact that files will become completely inaccessible after March 2029 represents an enormous loss for long-time users.

I sincerely hope that Adobe will find some way to ensure that existing FLA files remain accessible in the future.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I would be grateful for any response.