Special Feature

For quite some time now, we have been witnessing the agony of Adobe’s multimedia browser plugin, Flash Player. While the platform has for a long time refused to go in peace, its end is finally in sight: Adobe has recently announced that it will “end-of-life” its flawed and bulky browser plugin by the end of 2020. The fact that Adobe itself is encouraging content creators to migrate to the new, open formats preferred by the giants of tech, like Google, Facebook, and Apple, is speaking clearly of the platform’s future (or lack of it). But there’s one thing that still bothers the crowds of online fun consumers out there: does this mean the end of browser games as we know them? Well, the answer is most likely no.

There are alternatives

Alternatives to Flash were in the works even before Apple’s Steve Jobs published his famous “Thoughts on Flash“. Unity, one of the most popular game engines today, has seen its first version released in 2005, and HTML5, the cross-platform, plugin-less alternative, has been in the works since 2009. The first one is similar to Flash, relying on a browser plugin to run content, while the second is nothing but a markup language with advanced capabilities to play audio and video, along with performing more complex operations, relying on the browser’s own capabilities and JavaScript (a client-side scripting language).

This means that browser games will not die with Flash – they will be able to migrate to a different platform.

Cross-platform browser games

One of the best examples of HTML5 gaming is the slot machines and other games in the mobile version of the Wild Jack Casino. For lack of a better alternative, the Wild Jack was forced to build its mobile offering on HTML5 – and it made the most of the new platform. Today, players on any device with an HTML5-capable browser can play slots on Wildjack with no need to download and install anything, yet getting the complete – and entirely secure – gaming experience they expect. And the Wild Jack’s HTML5 version can be enjoyed not only on desktop computers but smartphones, gaming consoles, and basically any other device with an internet connection.

Browser games are not dead

Web browser games have always been a quick and casual alternative to “proper” video games, easily accessible and playable to millions of people all over the world. Now that the final warning of the “end-of-life” was issued, game developers can “translate” their existing games and projects to one of the many alternatives, making them available for future generations, too. So, browser games are not dead – they will be reborn in a new form.

This article was posted on Monday, October 23rd, 2017 at 12:30 AM and is filed under News .