Apple Acquires Video Editor Plugin Company MotionVFX

Apple has acquired MotionVFX, makers of plugins for Premere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and Final Cut Pro.

Announced on MotionVFX’s website, the company says that it is “thrilled” to be going in-house at Apple.

“We are extremely excited to share that MotionVFX is joining the Apple team to continue to empower creators and editors to do their best work.
For over 15 years, we’ve been on a mission to create world-class, visually inspiring content and effects for video editors. From the very beginning, we’ve been all about quality, ease of use, and great design. These are also the values that we admire most in Apple’s products, and we’re thrilled to be able to embrace them together,” the company writes.

“We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our amazing customers and supporters who have been with us through all these years. You inspired us, you challenged us, and you helped our products become what they are today. We are incredibly grateful to be part of this amazing community and excited to continue our work to serve you,” it continues.

“This is the beginning of something truly wonderful!”

While the company does offer plugins for Final Cut competitors like Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve, it primarily focuses on Final Cut Pro support in marketing its products. As explained by MacRumors, MotionVFX has been one of the most prolific developers of plugins for Final Cut Pro and its plugins are widely used across the industry, from small YouTube channels through filmmakers and broadcast editors.

At the time of publication, Apple had not published any news of the acquisition on its website and hasn’t publicly commented on the merger. It’s unclear what Apple’s plans for MotionVFX are, although it likely has something to do with bolstering its Creator Studio offerings. Announced in January, Creator Studio is one subscription service for all of Apple’s creative apps, including Final Cut Pro, Pixelmator Pro, and Logic Pro. While one streamlined offering is nice, there is still a ways to go before Apple is able to really challenge Adobe Creative Cloud in a one-to-one comparison.

Adding MotionVFX plugins into the mix would go a long way to seriously increasing the capabilities of Final Cut Pro. Even if Apple made some of those features a “premium” addition, being tied-in directly with Apple would mean far more people would gain visibility into the software and, therefore, use it.

Much like with Apple’s purchase of Pixelmator and Photomator two years ago, it will take some time before a full picture of what Apple’s plan is forms.