Adobe Flash Player

Also known as Macromedia Flash Player, Shockwave Flash

Cause of death

Killed by a successor

Made by

Adobe

Open web standards absorbed everything Flash did, without the plugin or the security record.

Flash was the reason the web could animate, play video, and run games for roughly fifteen years, and it was also one of the most reliably exploited pieces of software ever installed on consumer machines. Adobe announced end-of-life three years ahead of time and browsers blocked the plugin outright in January 2021. Its death took an enormous archive of interactive culture with it, which is why emulation projects now exist purely to keep the era playable.