[Furry] IMVU Buys Out Fur Affinity

Wait, say what now? Yep, you read that headline right, the folks over at IMVU have acquired Fur Affinity as announced earlier today. This is definitely an interesting bit of news and I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. It's no secret that many furries use IMVU, but to acquire the site fully? That's a bit mental.

However, the news is that this happened back in January, and that's causing a few rumblings, to say the least, with the Fur Affinity community. There's a lot of talk going on in the official forums and many aren't exactly happy about the news. Mostly due to the fact that it's apparently possible for IMVU to use artwork posted on the site for whatever they wish in regards to marketing and the whole donation drive that was done for the site a few months ago too.

That said, some are trying to look to the positives but it will be interesting to see the fall out from all of this and what happens to Fur Affinity in the long run as well. It's no secret the site has been plagued by tons of problems over the years, so many hope that servers and other infrastructure can be sorted out in a good way from this as well.

Both groups have released statements regarding the aquisition and there both below for those want to read them fully:

From Dragoneer (Fur Affinity's Former Owner):

We are proud to announce Fur Affinity has joined the IMVU (link) family. Fur Affinity (formerly a part of Ferrox Art LLC) was acquired by IMVU earlier this year in January 2015. We are looking forward to the partnership allowing both FA and IMVU to grow and foster the furry community and to celebrate its unique talents, creativity and self-expression.

As you know, IMVU has previously advertised their services to our community, which led to further discussions about the obvious overlap among our members. Both IMVU and FA community members love to socialize and connect anonymously with people from around the world with diverse backgrounds, talents, and creative histories. They both express their artistic and creative skills in a variety of ways - via artwork, storytelling, fursuiting, crafts and more! Our partnership was the natural and reasonable conclusion to bring these similar and often already connected communities together officially.

Going forward, FA will continue to operate independently but with IMVU’s support and resources to upgrade our services. We can now work on improving our infrastructure, adding more storage, making performance improvements and improved coding support to reach our full potential. As a community member, the only difference you will notice is a better, smoother experience and increased functionality of the site as time goes on.

FA started with a dream and a roll of duct tape, but grew and thrived thanks to the support of our community. We became one of the top 5,000 sites globally, 1,500 sites within the United States. The future remains bright, and together we can aim to reach even higher.

We look forward to having you continue to participate in our community, be creative, be proud, and, above all else, have fun. You are unlikely to notice any changes apart from an improved experience on the site and some added advertising.

Naturally, we understand you will have lots of questions regarding this change, and we are here to answer them. You can check the forums for the official question/answers (link). We'll be compiling a Q/A to help address concerns and response to questions!

And from one of the staff at IMVU:

Online furry and anthropormophic art gallery meets 3d artistic furry avatars...if they have not met already!

We are proud to announce to YOU - especially our furry and furry-loving friends - that earlier this year we made FurAffinity.net community a part of our family.

This started with IMVU advertising its services to the FA community, which led to further discussions about the obvious overlap among our members. Both IMVU and FA community members love to socialize and connect anonymously with people from around the world with diverse backgrounds. Both communities express their artistic and creative skills in a variety of ways - via their anthromorphic and furry art, photographs, outfits, and scenes and more. So our partnership was the natural and reasonable conclusion to bring these similar and often already connected communities together officially.

For those of you who don’t know, FA is a community centered around sketching and animations, in which artists are afforded the opportunity to anonymously share their own individual creative talents. Sound vaguely familiar? Yes, it is indeed exactly what you - IMVU’s customers - do as well.

What does it mean for the IMVU community? The FA site will continue to operate indepently and work toward enhancing the fun and experience of their members with our full support. You will continue to enjoy your IMVU experience - whether you belong to our furry community or not as always. We know many of you participate in both communities, so this just means you are always part of the IMVU family!