Market Consolidation vs. Innovation

In a recent article by Studio Daily, it was rumored that Adobe could make a competitive bid for The Foundry and its line of production products (Frazer, 2015).   The company’s owner, The Carlyle Group, is expected to set the price for any potential sale of the company at an estimated $304 million, which would represent a significant investment for Adobe.  The silver lining in this acquisition is that it would represent an emerging trend within the entertainment industry regarding mergers and acquisitions and how they affect innovation regarding content creators.  As seen in recent work such as Gone Girl and films produced by David Fincher & the Coen Brothers, Adobe’s Premiere Pro software and other brand products have made significant inroads within Hollywood and major feature film productions (Frazer, 2015). 

The brands of The Foundry could significantly impact the world of entertainment for budding artists if Adobe is able to leverage such products as Modo, Katana, Mari, and Nuke.  From a 3D animation standpoint, the integration of Modo within the Adobe Creative Cloud suite could prove problematic, unless the company can integrate its use with other products such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects (Bennett, 2015).  This would allow Adobe to compete in a market that is currently dominated primarily by Autodesk.  Additionally the acquisition of the Nuke brand would allow the Adobe brand to be gain a level of notoriety that it currently does not receive by owning the product used for create Oscar-winning visual effects on Gravity, which is simpler for both businesses and consumers to understand as suggested by (Bennett, 2015).

             

The most significant impact this acquisition would have on the entertainment in general relates to innovation.  By purchasing The Foundry, Adobe could increase its current pricing model for the Creative Cloud services.  How this would affect sales is unknown at the moment; however the leap in the technology that the company could offer would seriously enhance the quality of content produced by its users.  For the first time beginner level, novice, and intermediate level artists, animators, and producers would have access to industry level tools at an affordable cost.  This would allow content production to expand exponentially and remove the barriers of entry to one of the most profitable economic sectors in the global economy.

References
Bennett, N. (2015). Will Adobe buy The Foundry? Why it could be great for After Effects users but terrible for Nuke. Digital Arts. Retrieved from http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/motion-graphics/will-adobe-buy-foundry-why-it-could-be-great-for-after-effects-users-but-terrible-for-nuke/

Frazer, B. (2015). Report: Adobe May Buy The Foundry. Studio Daily. Retrieved from http://www.studiodaily.com/2015/04/report-adobe-looking-buy-foundry/