I still rememebr the first time i played a Flash game on my school computer, it was so smooth, colourful and felt like magic in my computer. Adobe flash was everywhere back then, games, animations, websites and even on youtube videos. There came a point where the internet was unimaginable without Adobe Flash.
Flash actually began in the mid-90s as FutureSplash Animator, later acquired by Macromedia and renamed Flash. Adobe took over in 2005, and that’s when Flash really hit its stride. As a teenager exploring the internet, I was amazed by what it could do. You didn’t need to install heavy software, just load a webpage and boom, instant video or game.
Newgrounds and Miniclip became my daily destination websites, and I even tried out Flash for myself, animating stick figures and building simple games. It was an empowering experience; Flash gave people hope that they could do anything with the internet. It made regular people create content and share, making us feel interactive and alive.
Slowly, over time, the cracks started showing. Flash’s upgrades got more frequent and annoying. Computers started to become slow, websites were down constantly, and there was news about security concerns. Then came the game changer: Steve Jobs rejected Flash in 2010, citing its inefficiency and lack of security. Now, one of the biggest mobile companies, like Apple, rejecting Flash was a massive blow. I didn’t realise then, but it was the beginning of the end. The internet was going very high, the web was mobile, and Flash couldn’t keep up.
Slowly, developers shifted to HTML5, which did many of the same things, such as animations, videos, and interactive websites, but without plugins and problems. Everything for flash started disappearing and Adobe announced its end in 2017 and by the december 2020, it was no where in the face of the earth.
It was a heavy goodbye for me. On the one hand, the web has become faster and safer every minute, making it more accessible. On the other hand, a whole era of creativity and video games was gone.
Thankfully, projects like Ruffle are helping preserve old Flash content.
Flash may be dead, but its legacy is unforgettable to people like me who grew up with it. It was more than a plugin; it was a doorway to a more creative, expressive internet.