Adobe Animate is shutting down next month

Adobe is discontinuing Adobe Animate. In an FAQ posted on Adobe’s website, the company says it will stop selling the animation software on March 1, citing the emergence of new platforms “that better meet user needs.”

Users have until March 1, 2027 (or March 1, 2029 for business customers) to access and download files from Animate, as they will no longer be available after this date. The app will be available for download until these deadlines and Adobe will continue to provide support during this time.

The history of Adobe Animate dates back to 1996, when FutureWave Software launched the vector graphics application, initially called FutureSplash Animator, as a tool for creating vector animations. Although Macromedia acquired the tool later that year and renamed it Flash, Adobe purchased the company in 2005 and began calling the application Adobe Flash Professional. Adobe announced plans to rename the application to Adobe Animate in 2015, as the web began phasing out Flash.

Although Adobe claims that Creative Cloud Pro customers can use other applications to “replace parts of Animate’s functionality”, such as Adobe After Effects or Adobe Express, many users who still use Animate are frustrated by its impending discontinuation. The creators of the short-form animated series, Chikn Nuggit, write in an article on X that they still use Adobe Animate to make the series. “This decision would not only harm countless jobs in the industry, but render both past creations and media lost,” the post read. David Firth, the creator of Salad Fingersalso says he still uses the app to make the grotesque series.

Megacharlie, technical artist at Jackbox Games, adds that the app “is used in many big-budget TV cartoon productions, in film and animation studios, in game studios large and small, not to mention the thousands of independent creators who still use it daily.”