Not long ago I thought Adobes Flash would probably die. Microsoft took a small piece of the cake with Silverlight while Apple banned Flash from the iPad altogether. Even Adobe themselves jumped the HTML5 train with Adobe Edge. Flash became uncool and nothing it seemed could be done with it that couldn’t be done with HTML5.

Now I guess I have to change my mind.

A few days ago Adobe and Epic Games announced that Unreal Engine 3 – one of the major 3D gaming engines – will support Adobes Flash Player.

I really think that this will be game changing if successful. Just ask yourself what if the latest 3D games would be available in your browser?

There would be no more need to buy the game in any physical store. This would fit perfectly to the market developments of the last few years where the big money in gaming is no longer made by selling the games but by selling subscriptions to online gaming platforms.

I would assume that the sales figures for the games themselves hardly fund the costs of production and logistics. If games could be made available online only game manufacturers could reduce their costs dramatically.

Also gamers would have much easier access to the games. No more waiting just clicking and subscribing using online payment. A whole gaming experience on your fingertips.

Using the browser as a distribution channel would also enable manufacturers to bring their games closer to their users. Facebook and Google+ Games are far from banning Flash.

Could this also increase the pressure on Apple and its Flash ban on iOS devices? What if the massive gaming industrie successfully migrates to the browser environment? Would gamers demand their gaming experience on tablets?

One thing seems for sure though: Flash is here to stay after all.

Flash · Games · html5 · iPad · Social Gaming

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