THE FOUNDRY REDUCES PRICES, HOPES FOR RENEWED AUTODESK CONTRACT
"We are clearly disappointed," says Foundry CEO Bill Collis. "The main reason is for our users."
He reports that thanks to The Foundry's growth during recent years, the revenue they make from Autodesk products currently is not a significant part of the company's revenue. "It's not negligible, but it won't do us any serious damage. We've put a lot of effort into these products as well, but that really isn't the issue. We have a bunch of very loyal, clever users — the people that allowed Simon [Robinson] and Bruno [Nicoletti] to start the Foundry — and we have always respected and learned from them, and tried our best to provide them with the tools that they need to continue to produce the amazing results they do. The big shame is that we are not going to be, or potentially not be, able to do that any more."
Autodesk released this statement: "In December 2008, Autodesk advised The Foundry that Autodesk would not renew the Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) agreement between Autodesk and The Foundry for the year 2009. Autodesk undertook this decision for business reasons - namely that The Foundry now develops and sells Nuke.
"Please note that this decision does not ban the Foundry from making or selling plug-ins for Autodesk Systems products. However, it does remove access to the support structure for developing plug-ins for Autodesk Systems products.
Autodesk is actively trying to find a solution that works for both Autodesk and The Foundry."
Collis and the group at The Foundry don't really see Nuke as a threat to Autodesk's Flame and Inferno because it's not a realtime system. He does acknowledge, however, that Nuke does compete with Autodesk Toxik.
In the meantime, The Foundry hopes that compositors take advantage of this situation by getting Foundry plug-ins at almost 80 percent off their normal pricing. "Because it's so cheap we are going to find people willing to buy it at that price," says Collis. "At the end of the day, there is a really good chance we'll be able to renegotiate a contract with Autodesk that will allow us to carry on supporting customers. What we may find happens is that we reduce the price for a month or two and Autodesk decides it's a good idea to have The Foundry supplying plug-ins again. In that case, anyone buying in the next month or two will find they got the bargain of the century."