Maybe important to include the only response we've seen to date here:

VEGASDerek wrote on 3/16/2024, 2:22 AM

I will not go into details on what is going on with MAGIX in general, but, to confirm what fr0sty is saying, the VEGAS team is indeed working without hinderance right now and I believe the upcoming update should put to rest any fears about the future of VEGAS. It is possibly a bigger step in development than users saw moving from VP 20 to the initial release of VP 21. It is easily the biggest mid-release cycle update that we have ever released.

And development has already begun on VEGAS Pro 22 as well.

It might be worth some communications explaining the difference between the early phases of insolvency in Germany, and bankruptcy. Mainly becasue a lot of the early articles about what is happening to Magix are stating the company is bankrupt. Which, as far as I can tell, is not quite the case. I believe the current insolvency status is more akin to Chapter 11 in the US

I just read that report about how "revenue fell dramatically" and recall how not too long ago Magix offered on HB and other places many of their products for few cups of coffee.

my2c.

... not too long ago Magix offered on HB and other places many of their products for few cups of coffee

My guess is that this was a "loss-leader" strategy where you pay a low entry price for an old Vegas Pro version two versions past on the probablility that there'll be further income by way of upgrading costs or changing to a subscription model. Other companies have offered cross-grading deals where you could change from one company's current or recent product to the competitive company's equivalent product on the same premise - paying a low entry cost but getting you onto the "hamster wheel" of ongoing income. There's nothing wrong with that IMO - it's marketing.

I think falling revenue is across their product lines. Tough times in the software industry broadly at the moment coming out of the boom of the stay at home pandemic.

Humblebundle and Fanatical are user acquisition strategies (marketing) that replace the role Movie Studio used to serve. The challenge is converting them into paying upgrade customers. I don't see Magix marketing doing themselves any favors here.

Tough times in the software industry broadly at the moment coming out of the boom of the stay at home pandemic.

I thought that this was more applicable to "conferencing" apps like Zoom and the like. I'm not sure how the WFH group would have increased Vegas Pro 19/20 sales at the time - maybe with Resolve because of its collaborative cloud feature if that feature was available back then.

Maybe you are right and I don't know if VEGAS benefited at all from that.

I thought lots of people were learning how to record and edit videos at home to share on social media with new found free time and no ability to share in person.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/04/01/coronavirus-photo-video-editing-apps-surge/5087790002/

I've told this story before. I never ever considered Vegas, and I've used editing software since the Amiga/Video Toaster days. I always thought the the interface (from the screen shots) were ugly and confusing. Scratched it off my list.

That was until Humble Bundle had VP14 Edit and some other software for $25. Once I installed it and gave it a quick try, I was impressed with the speed of timeline editing. Wow. I was now hooked. Two weeks later, I bought VP15 Suite. I've upgraded every year.

So, the HB sale got me to try the software. I figure that those that have illegal copies of Vegas now have an entry point to legitimate Vegas with an upgrade path if they like for only $25. Heck, the software has finished development and is sitting on the Magix servers. Why not sell the old software.

On German websites and newspaper reports it can be read that Magix has filed for insolvency on its own initiative. Operations are to continue, in particular development, and the portfolio is to be narrowed as part of the restructuring and more focus is to be placed on Vegas. So it's not all bad news. There has been a certain development congruence for some time now; many modules are being developed so that they can run in all Magix video products.

>not sure how the WFH group would have increased Vegas Pro 19/20 sales at the time

Well, it was lock down that prompted me to move from the cheap Steam version of Vegas Movie Studio 13 Platinum to Vegas Pro 17

9 out of 10 insolvency cases are followed by a bankruptcy , let's hope this case is the 1/10 case and vegas not being part of this and staying alive and kicking .

Concerning situation. Glad to hear that development is at least currently as normal.

As for the Humble Bundle v15 promo, that was the reason I went Pro. For many many years I used Movie Studio Platinum more than any other editing software. At the time that was a good way to see what benefits I'd get over the consumer version. I don't have a ton of resources so I'm currently on v19, but I will definitely upgrade when it makes sense for what I do.

Now I've gotten into scripting using Visual Studio and C# with Vegas Pro, which I assume is a unique feature to editors. I'm locked in at this point.

One thing that troubles me is Magix with their Video Pro application. Feels like competition to Vegas and looking at their product pages it tends to get prominence over Vegas. Not cool. Besides the Humble Bundle thing they tried I'd say they've done a poor job of promoting Vegas Pro. I kinda wish there was a better company with a stronger mix of products that could take it over like what Blackmagic does with Resolve and their hardware business. Atomos? I enjoy my Ninja V... Feels like the only way to really grow a software user base these days with how Blackmagic does it. Maybe even Nikon/Red but I'd have less faith in Nikon doing the right thing compared to Atomos.

Excellent information on this topic.

https://www-videoaktiv-de.translate.goog/magazin/magazin-intern/magix-insolvenz-in-eigenverwaltung-fur-berliner-software-hersteller.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

@MMiles, this has already been posted and discussed.

9 out of 10 insolvency cases are followed by a bankruptcy , let's hope this case is the 1/10 case and vegas not being part of this and staying alive and kicking .

It should be discussed now what if anything can be done about activation of Vegas and license authentication (phone home) if there are no longer Vegas/Magix servers to do this. One thing I can think of is a software generated key that the user can keep locally that is locked to the users hardware. This ofcourse means you update computer you no longer have a working Vegas, but I don't see another way to do this.

Other option is Vegas dongles, but that will never happen.

Why discuss this now, as if "we" have any input in what Magix is doing?

@Reyfox I love to help where possible with ideas possibly not explored to help Vegas. Planting the seeds now. In new releases of Vegas have an option for the software or Magix/Vegas's servers to generate an encrypted key to give confidence for Vegas users current and future. But as I say for the security of their product I think it has to be locked to the users hardware.

@MMiles, this has already been posted and discussed.

@reyfox

Oh! I haven't come across that post.....or were you commenting just in a general sense? I think I'll leave it up to the mods here. Surely they can delete my comment or simply lock this thread.

 have an option for the software or Magix/Vegas's servers to generate an encrypted key to give confidence for Vegas users current and future. But as I say for the security of their product I think it has to be locked to the users hardware.

With respect for your concern for the product, that is the way Vegas started out a quarter-century ago, and remained until V19.

In a word, it didn't work.

Tens of thousands of cracked and pirated copies in the wild are the legacy of that outdated security model.

Your thoughts on development would seem to be better served in your own off-topic thread. 😯

@mark-y 👍