Adobe Schockwave bows out this Tuesday, April 9, 2019 as announced a few weeks ago. It is actually the coup de grace of this technology that was already dying for several years, replaced by modern solutions such as HTML5 and WebGL.
Technologies evolve and the world adapts. After the scheduled death of Flash Player for 2020, Adobe announced a few weeks ago that it permanently abandoned Adobe Shockwave, its other technology that allowed to create and play interactive content on the web. As of today, the application stops being offered for download on the publisher's site for Windows systems.
Adobe Shockwave officially dies
The phasing out of Adobe Shockwave began in 2017, when the company discontinued support for Adobe Director, the developer tool for creating 2D or 3D games, animations, and other content for the Web. At the same time, the Shockwave player was no longer available on macOS. This is now the case on Windows. This additional step sounds the death knell of this technology that we had almost forgotten, especially since it is even less used than Adobe Flash whose end was precipitated by recurring security problems. Flash offers almost the same possibilities as Shockwave.
There is no reason to continue to develop this solution, as the company recognizes. It evokes the decline in the use of Shockwave in favor of more modern technologies that are the HTML5 Canvas and WebGL. The only ones who can continue to access Shockwave after April 9 are corporate customers, until the expiry of all contracts in 2022.
For the rest, it's time to say goodbye. But this end of life of Shockwave will have no significant impact on the experience of Internet users since very few sites still offer video games today, interactive content based on this technology.
