We are considering upgrading to Storyline 3 but also wondering when Storyline 4 will be available and what additional features we can expect. Would appreciate any insight you have.
Hi Carol! Based on overwhelming customer demand, we’ve been focused on delivering continuous updates to Articulate 360 apps and content, and all of our latest 360 updates can be found here: https://articulate.com/360/whats-new That being said, we are paying close attention to demand for perpetual products but have not yet made a decision on future releases to Storyline.
Please release Storyline 4. Storyline 360 is a dumpster fire, at least on my computer, which was built to run multiple graphics programs simultaneously. I have 32 gb of RAM and I can run multiiple instances of Storyline 2 and 3, Photoshop, Illustrator and animation software at once, without a hitch. The only thing that lags is Storyline 360. And it crashes constantly. I save multiple times per slide because it crashes so often. I have reinstalled and run the repair software with no improvement.
Oh, and the Content Library is just photos I could get for free from other sites like Unsplash. Gee, what a benefit.
I'm done venting now. Please release Storyline 4. Otherwise, I will have to stick with 3 forever. I am not paying a yearly subscription for 360.
I'm sorry you've had such trouble with Storyline 360, and it's definitely not the experience we'd expect! Our Support Team would be happy to look further into what's causing such a slow down on your system.
We also understand that Articulate 360 isn't for everyone, so if you don't need access to tools such as Content Library, Review hosting, Live webinars, etc. Storyline 3 would be a great fit. We'll keep you posted if we have any other news about future perpetual products.
As Elizabeth mentioned before, our focus has been on Articulate 360 due to customer demand and feedback, but we've continued to release updates to Storyline 3 (You can see the latest in the release notes for Storyline 3, build 3.5.16548.0).
We haven't made any decisions about another perpetual version of Storyline, but as soon as we have more to share we'll let folks know in the E-Learning Heroes community!
I really like Storyline having first purchased 2 and now 3. It's one of the best investments I've made and it's the leader far as I'm concerned. But sadly since the release of 360, I've been unhappy with Articulate's approach. I understand that you may have "overwhelming customer feedback" but what about those who are owners of the perpetual version? I have observed how updates are enthusiastically pushed for 360 but not the case for 3 and these are marginal at best to ensure compatibility with 360.
The promotion and updates of 360 have the unintended (or intended?) effect of marginalising or diminishing the perceived value of the perpetual license. Even from the start, the comparison table makes it look as if Storyline 3 has nothing compared with 360. Maybe a better comparison table will compare version 2 with 3. Those who purchase the perpetual license do so for a reason. In my case, a major reason is affordability. The foreign exchange rate for me is almost US$ 7 to TT$1. So that's a heavy burden to annually pay for a 360 license.
The updates being pushed out to Storyline 360 are impressive but will also be useful to version 3 users. Perhaps you can consider a special purchase of updates at certain periods during the year to allow version 3 users to maintain parity with 360. That way people won't feel that they are being left out. Please, please consider this in your planning. Remember those who can afford will not complain and even be enthusiastic about 360 especially if it fits their business model. I am definitely not one of the enthusiastic ones. I look forward to Articulate graciously creating a bridging opportunity to help version 3 users attain parity in the software features with SL 360 or being respectful in how they market 360 so it does not look like SL 3 is an orphan child.
Thanks for joining the Articulate family so long ago and sticking with us through 2 versions!
I'm sorry to hear that our approach and new tools don't fit with your needs and budgeting, our team has worked hard to create the Articulate 360 suite of tools to provide everything you need for course creation. I can understand how hearing about updates released to Articulate 360 may leave you feeling left out, but I hope you can keep in mind, that those new features are often linked to subscription elements - think, Text-to-Speech and Content Library assets.
We do have a comparison chart with strictly perpetual versions here, so hopefully, that helps showcase how far Storyline has come since version 1, and that it's not an orphan child. We've continued to release regular updates for Storyline 3 to fix bugs and keep compatibility for opening files created in Storyline 360, and a few new features were added along the way.
We'll post here and on our main Articulate.com pages if any new features or versions of Storyline 3 are made available, but I'm sorry I don't have more details to share.
If you have any other questions or concerns, I'm here to help. I have also passed your note along to my team, as it's important insight for everyone to read.
Thank you for your response and clarification. You're right about the comparison table. It's just that on the SL 3 "homepage" the SL360 vs SL 3 is what we see at the bottom after the new features. I also understand the distinction on the subscription elements especially the Content Library assets. It's the SL "core" updates that I'm more interested in as an optional paid upgrade e.g. random variable; review, retry questions, modern player and conditional seekbar. Again, I respect Articulate's right to configure its offerings. I'm just asking for the opportunity to upgrade periodically while keeping a perpetual license.
Thanks also for passing on to the rest of your team. Truly appreciated and I look forward to SL4 and/or a suitable solution :-)
All the best for the New Year to you and the team.
Can you at least say is Storyline 4 even considered? Wandering around articulate page I have that feeling, that... sadly, no. To get an information on Storyline 3 I must dig a little now.
Of course I understand that subscription model is probably way more profitable than standalone versions, but sadly for non USD or EUR countries, it's really pricey. I'd love to continue work with Storyline, since I'm with it from 2012, but the cost can be killing, especially if my company would like to hire another person to do learning content (we are small business doing e-learnings on-demand, not some big corporation making tons of learnings a year). Upgrading once in 3 year is really attractive and helps to maintain costs. You have done some nice things with 360 (enhanced object positioning and modern player for example), but the first one only makes working more comfortable, and the second one, with some work, can be achieved in storyline3.
But I'll probably buy the 360 subscription, if I could do it like Adobe did with CC. You just want just one app? Ok, here you go, take it. You want all apps? Sure, no problem, just pay us a little more. Maybe you want additional access to stock library? Here you go, just few more dollars. If I could choose that I only want Articulate 360, without any additional content. Fairly, I don't see any use of studio, rise, replay or review. I also don't see a need to use content library.
What I'm trying to say... Please, let us have a little freedom in WHAT we want to buy :) Considering above, if I need to pay for only Storyline360 I'd probably go for it. Now, I'll stick to the good old SL3 :)
What I'm trying to say... Please, let us have a little freedom in WHAT we want to buy :) Considering above, if I need to pay for only Storyline360 I'd probably go for it. Now, I'll stick to the good old SL3 :)
We’re committed to continuing to support Storyline 3 with bug fixes, but we haven’t made any decisions about developing a new perpetual version of Storyline (aka Storyline 4)
The vast majority of our customers are using Articulate 360, so that’s where we’re putting our focus. I have also heard of folks looking to purchase individual tools within the Articulate 360 suite, and we haven't made any decisions or changes to allow that.
We know some folks are unable to switch to subscription plans or cloud apps, and if there’s anything we can do to help you make the case for Articulate 360, let us know. We’re happy to help.
Why doesn't Articulate benchmark from Adobe and offer Storyline 360 in a perpetual version, taking into account that any cloud-based functions will be lost, as Adobe does with Captivate 2019? Adobe offers a cloud-based subscription (for much cheaper than 360 by the way) for Captivate or you can get the full version as a stand-alone. We have both perpetual versions of Captivate 2019 and Storyline 3. As part of the DoD, we can't allow ANY cloud-based software from an outside agency into our networks for national security reasons so your product is slowly becoming obsolete to our agency and probably soon to a lot of other Government agencies that have strict network security protocols. You might want to re-evaluate your business model if you want to keep some of the Government agencies as well as some corporations that take network security seriously.
All these demands for SL4 when SL3 isn't even 2 years old yet. Historically Storyline has been on a 2.5 year cycle, which would put us at late 2019 when we **might** see SL4. But like Ashley said, with most users on 360, Articulate's focus should be on 360 and, one would assume, would likely slow the development cycle for SL4. But another assumption of mine is Articulate would just wait until there's enough new features in 360 to fork that as SL4, which (again all assumptions here) I'd imagine would require minimal dev time.
Either way, from my recollection Articulate has always been tight-lipped about new releases (I've been a user since Studio '09/Storyline 1). I wouldn't get huffy and puffy until at least 2020. Until then I'll continue dreaming of the day when there's Storyline for Mac :-D
Just curious to all. What do you find lacking in SL3 that you would like to see in SL4?
Now I have very simple and clear answer to your question. I want the Modern Player in a perpetual version, and I don't think that we will see it in SL3.
No plans at this time to add the modern player to Storyline 3, but if that changes we'll absolutely update folks here and on our main Storyline 3 pages.
Hello All. Hopefully Articulate consider the population of consumers that are unable to use 360 due to Federal or corporate policy governing sensitive content. Perpetual licenses are sensible and ideal for consumers that must use tools to develop sensitive content.
Perhaps Articulate may consider bringing their suite of fantastic tools to FedRAMP, there is a huge and open market for these types of tools that could be used in the government sector.
Hi Todd! While we are still exploring the possibility of FedRamp certification for Articulate 360, earlier this year we were granted an Authorization to Operate (ATO) at FIPS 199 Low Impact to operate Articulate 360 by the GSA. Our sales team would be happy to discuss that further with you, and you can reach us at sales@articulate.com.
I'm going to chime in here with another voice in support of perpetual versions. In your current business schema you've overlooked the needs of many of your customers: specifically, contractors. I am one of them, and it just isn't practical for me to sign onto an annual subscription when next year's clients may want all ILT or Lectora. What happens then, when I've been working on another type of project entirely for 8 months and a previous client asks for a "quick fix" to something in SL? At that point I can't even access something that is part of my own portfolio! Quite a lot of your customers are contractors like myself, and you've put us in a bind.
Hello Ashley, 1 year ago i asked you for a release date of storyline 4. Can you now tell me, how long we have to wait for getting an answer to this question?
You've raised a question that's been on my mind for a while and I suspect that you'll get a glib, patronising response to say something like "You really don't need perpetual licenses, look at all of the fabulous features in SL360". What you won't get is a definitive response from Articulate telling us that we haven't wasted our time and money investing in a product that they're no longer going to support.
Unfortunately we've switched to Adobe Captivate, which I don't feel is an intuitive as SL but at least it's supported and available as a perpetual license, is cheaper than 360 and isn't bloated with applications you'll never use.
Sad that we've been abandoned but still hoping Articulate will have a change of heart. (I suspect we'll get yet another meaningless response though).
We're continuing to support Storyline 3 with bug fixes, but we haven’t made any decisions about developing a new perpetual version of Storyline (aka Storyline 4).
36 Replies
Hi Carol! Based on overwhelming customer demand, we’ve been focused on delivering continuous updates to Articulate 360 apps and content, and all of our latest 360 updates can be found here: https://articulate.com/360/whats-new That being said, we are paying close attention to demand for perpetual products but have not yet made a decision on future releases to Storyline.
Please release Storyline 4. Storyline 360 is a dumpster fire, at least on my computer, which was built to run multiple graphics programs simultaneously. I have 32 gb of RAM and I can run multiiple instances of Storyline 2 and 3, Photoshop, Illustrator and animation software at once, without a hitch. The only thing that lags is Storyline 360. And it crashes constantly. I save multiple times per slide because it crashes so often. I have reinstalled and run the repair software with no improvement.
Oh, and the Content Library is just photos I could get for free from other sites like Unsplash. Gee, what a benefit.
I'm done venting now. Please release Storyline 4. Otherwise, I will have to stick with 3 forever. I am not paying a yearly subscription for 360.
Hi Shannon,
I'm sorry you've had such trouble with Storyline 360, and it's definitely not the experience we'd expect! Our Support Team would be happy to look further into what's causing such a slow down on your system.
We also understand that Articulate 360 isn't for everyone, so if you don't need access to tools such as Content Library, Review hosting, Live webinars, etc. Storyline 3 would be a great fit. We'll keep you posted if we have any other news about future perpetual products.
Hi Shannon,
can you meantime give me an answer when Storyline 4 will be released because i don´t want to buy Articulate 360, too.
Sorry, my question is going on Ashley Terwilliger.
Hi xx,
As Elizabeth mentioned before, our focus has been on Articulate 360 due to customer demand and feedback, but we've continued to release updates to Storyline 3 (You can see the latest in the release notes for Storyline 3, build 3.5.16548.0).
We haven't made any decisions about another perpetual version of Storyline, but as soon as we have more to share we'll let folks know in the E-Learning Heroes community!
I 'd rather have SL3 continuing to evolve at its own pace as it does now!
Hi Ashley,
a new year a new try to ask you for a release date of Storyline 4 (perpetual Version).
Hi xx,
No news at this time - but I promise if we do have any updates to share we'll be sure to pop back into discussions like this one!
Hi Ashley,
I really like Storyline having first purchased 2 and now 3. It's one of the best investments I've made and it's the leader far as I'm concerned. But sadly since the release of 360, I've been unhappy with Articulate's approach. I understand that you may have "overwhelming customer feedback" but what about those who are owners of the perpetual version? I have observed how updates are enthusiastically pushed for 360 but not the case for 3 and these are marginal at best to ensure compatibility with 360.
The promotion and updates of 360 have the unintended (or intended?) effect of marginalising or diminishing the perceived value of the perpetual license. Even from the start, the comparison table makes it look as if Storyline 3 has nothing compared with 360. Maybe a better comparison table will compare version 2 with 3. Those who purchase the perpetual license do so for a reason. In my case, a major reason is affordability. The foreign exchange rate for me is almost US$ 7 to TT$1. So that's a heavy burden to annually pay for a 360 license.
The updates being pushed out to Storyline 360 are impressive but will also be useful to version 3 users. Perhaps you can consider a special purchase of updates at certain periods during the year to allow version 3 users to maintain parity with 360. That way people won't feel that they are being left out. Please, please consider this in your planning. Remember those who can afford will not complain and even be enthusiastic about 360 especially if it fits their business model. I am definitely not one of the enthusiastic ones. I look forward to Articulate graciously creating a bridging opportunity to help version 3 users attain parity in the software features with SL 360 or being respectful in how they market 360 so it does not look like SL 3 is an orphan child.
Thank you for your kind consideration :-)
Hi Huey,
Thanks for joining the Articulate family so long ago and sticking with us through 2 versions!
I'm sorry to hear that our approach and new tools don't fit with your needs and budgeting, our team has worked hard to create the Articulate 360 suite of tools to provide everything you need for course creation. I can understand how hearing about updates released to Articulate 360 may leave you feeling left out, but I hope you can keep in mind, that those new features are often linked to subscription elements - think, Text-to-Speech and Content Library assets.
We do have a comparison chart with strictly perpetual versions here, so hopefully, that helps showcase how far Storyline has come since version 1, and that it's not an orphan child. We've continued to release regular updates for Storyline 3 to fix bugs and keep compatibility for opening files created in Storyline 360, and a few new features were added along the way.
We'll post here and on our main Articulate.com pages if any new features or versions of Storyline 3 are made available, but I'm sorry I don't have more details to share.
If you have any other questions or concerns, I'm here to help. I have also passed your note along to my team, as it's important insight for everyone to read.
Hi Ashley,
Thank you for your response and clarification. You're right about the comparison table. It's just that on the SL 3 "homepage" the SL360 vs SL 3 is what we see at the bottom after the new features. I also understand the distinction on the subscription elements especially the Content Library assets. It's the SL "core" updates that I'm more interested in as an optional paid upgrade e.g. random variable; review, retry questions, modern player and conditional seekbar. Again, I respect Articulate's right to configure its offerings. I'm just asking for the opportunity to upgrade periodically while keeping a perpetual license.
Thanks also for passing on to the rest of your team. Truly appreciated and I look forward to SL4 and/or a suitable solution :-)
All the best for the New Year to you and the team.
Hi Ashley,
Can you at least say is Storyline 4 even considered? Wandering around articulate page I have that feeling, that... sadly, no. To get an information on Storyline 3 I must dig a little now.
Of course I understand that subscription model is probably way more profitable than standalone versions, but sadly for non USD or EUR countries, it's really pricey. I'd love to continue work with Storyline, since I'm with it from 2012, but the cost can be killing, especially if my company would like to hire another person to do learning content (we are small business doing e-learnings on-demand, not some big corporation making tons of learnings a year). Upgrading once in 3 year is really attractive and helps to maintain costs. You have done some nice things with 360 (enhanced object positioning and modern player for example), but the first one only makes working more comfortable, and the second one, with some work, can be achieved in storyline3.
But I'll probably buy the 360 subscription, if I could do it like Adobe did with CC. You just want just one app? Ok, here you go, take it. You want all apps? Sure, no problem, just pay us a little more. Maybe you want additional access to stock library? Here you go, just few more dollars. If I could choose that I only want Articulate 360, without any additional content. Fairly, I don't see any use of studio, rise, replay or review. I also don't see a need to use content library.
What I'm trying to say... Please, let us have a little freedom in WHAT we want to buy :) Considering above, if I need to pay for only Storyline360 I'd probably go for it. Now, I'll stick to the good old SL3 :)
So true! That's why I'm still using SL2...
Hi Mateusz,
We’re committed to continuing to support Storyline 3 with bug fixes, but we haven’t made any decisions about developing a new perpetual version of Storyline (aka Storyline 4)
The vast majority of our customers are using Articulate 360, so that’s where we’re putting our focus. I have also heard of folks looking to purchase individual tools within the Articulate 360 suite, and we haven't made any decisions or changes to allow that.
We know some folks are unable to switch to subscription plans or cloud apps, and if there’s anything we can do to help you make the case for Articulate 360, let us know. We’re happy to help.
Hi Ashley,
Why doesn't Articulate benchmark from Adobe and offer Storyline 360 in a perpetual version, taking into account that any cloud-based functions will be lost, as Adobe does with Captivate 2019? Adobe offers a cloud-based subscription (for much cheaper than 360 by the way) for Captivate or you can get the full version as a stand-alone. We have both perpetual versions of Captivate 2019 and Storyline 3. As part of the DoD, we can't allow ANY cloud-based software from an outside agency into our networks for national security reasons so your product is slowly becoming obsolete to our agency and probably soon to a lot of other Government agencies that have strict network security protocols. You might want to re-evaluate your business model if you want to keep some of the Government agencies as well as some corporations that take network security seriously.
All these demands for SL4 when SL3 isn't even 2 years old yet. Historically Storyline has been on a 2.5 year cycle, which would put us at late 2019 when we **might** see SL4. But like Ashley said, with most users on 360, Articulate's focus should be on 360 and, one would assume, would likely slow the development cycle for SL4. But another assumption of mine is Articulate would just wait until there's enough new features in 360 to fork that as SL4, which (again all assumptions here) I'd imagine would require minimal dev time.
Either way, from my recollection Articulate has always been tight-lipped about new releases (I've been a user since Studio '09/Storyline 1). I wouldn't get huffy and puffy until at least 2020. Until then I'll continue dreaming of the day when there's Storyline for Mac :-D
Just curious to all. What do you find lacking in SL3 that you would like to see in SL4?
Now I have very simple and clear answer to your question. I want the Modern Player in a perpetual version, and I don't think that we will see it in SL3.
Hi Vadim,
No plans at this time to add the modern player to Storyline 3, but if that changes we'll absolutely update folks here and on our main Storyline 3 pages.
Hello All. Hopefully Articulate consider the population of consumers that are unable to use 360 due to Federal or corporate policy governing sensitive content. Perpetual licenses are sensible and ideal for consumers that must use tools to develop sensitive content.
Perhaps Articulate may consider bringing their suite of fantastic tools to FedRAMP, there is a huge and open market for these types of tools that could be used in the government sector.
Hi Todd! While we are still exploring the possibility of FedRamp certification for Articulate 360, earlier this year we were granted an Authorization to Operate (ATO) at FIPS 199 Low Impact to operate Articulate 360 by the GSA. Our sales team would be happy to discuss that further with you, and you can reach us at sales@articulate.com.
I'm going to chime in here with another voice in support of perpetual versions. In your current business schema you've overlooked the needs of many of your customers: specifically, contractors. I am one of them, and it just isn't practical for me to sign onto an annual subscription when next year's clients may want all ILT or Lectora. What happens then, when I've been working on another type of project entirely for 8 months and a previous client asks for a "quick fix" to something in SL? At that point I can't even access something that is part of my own portfolio! Quite a lot of your customers are contractors like myself, and you've put us in a bind.
Hello Ashley, 1 year ago i asked you for a release date of storyline 4. Can you now tell me, how long we have to wait for getting an answer to this question?
Hi XX,
You've raised a question that's been on my mind for a while and I suspect that you'll get a glib, patronising response to say something like "You really don't need perpetual licenses, look at all of the fabulous features in SL360". What you won't get is a definitive response from Articulate telling us that we haven't wasted our time and money investing in a product that they're no longer going to support.
There are several other threads discussing the update to Storyline V4 (https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/storyline-perpetual-licence) but none of them get honest answers.
Unfortunately we've switched to Adobe Captivate, which I don't feel is an intuitive as SL but at least it's supported and available as a perpetual license, is cheaper than 360 and isn't bloated with applications you'll never use.
Sad that we've been abandoned but still hoping Articulate will have a change of heart. (I suspect we'll get yet another meaningless response though).
Hi xx,
We're continuing to support Storyline 3 with bug fixes, but we haven’t made any decisions about developing a new perpetual version of Storyline (aka Storyline 4).
If you have any other questions, happy to answer them or feel free to connect with our team one-on-one!