📑 The rise and fall of Adobe Flash

Bookmarked The rise and fall of Adobe Flash (arstechnica.com)

Before Flash Player sunsets this December, we talk its legacy with those who built it.

Richard Moss reflects on the rise and fall of Adobe Flash. Stemming from a sketching application, the creators eventually pivoted to online animations. In 1997, the application was acquired by Macromedia and the name changed from FutureSplash Animator to Flash. This association gave Flash a foothold on the web.

Starting from around 2005, McNeely told Ars, top Flash game developers could earn five or six figures in sponsorship deals per game. Most were getting paid this sort of money just to have promotional material for another business included on their loading and/or title screens.

The Flash entertainment boom wasn’t limited just to Newgrounds, either. McNeely’s Armor Games peaked at around 1.2 million visitors a day, he told Ars. Several other Flash game and animation portals, including Kongregate, Addicting Games, and adultswim.com, got massive numbers, too.

There were a number of things that marked the days, including the rise of the touch screen, security issues, as well as its proprietary nature. Some of these issues were encapsulated in Steve Jobs’ open letter.

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