Adobe has dropped its iconic Flash Professional branding, redubbing its flagship animation tool Adobe Animate CC beginning with the next release in early 2016.
This comes following the emergence of HTML5, which forced the company to add native HTML5 Canvas and WebGL support to its software, now used in more than a third of content created through Flash Professional. In a blog post, however, Adobe reiterated that Flash (SWF) and AIR formats will still be treated as "first-class citizens"
"The entire team is thrilled about our upcoming release, and more importantly, beginning a new era with Animate CC," wrote Rich Less, senior product marketing manager for Creative Cloud web products. "As we approach the 20th anniversary of Flash Professional, we invite animators and interactive designers around the world to join us for decades to come."
Flash has run into a lot of issues over the last few years, not least of which were security flaws that led to browsers such as Mozilla Firefox blocking the browser plug-in entirely earlier this year alongside Google and Microsoft.
Around the same time, FireEye discovered zero-day vulnerabilities affecting Flash, which could be used by hackers to install malware or steal data as well as completely take over victims' computers .
The company has since announced that it will make moves to fix many of these issues, working with Facebook on Flash gaming content and releasing an HTML5 video player for desktop browsers.
A post from Adobe Corporate Communications said: "While standards like HTML5 will be the web platform of the future across all devices, Flash continues to be used in key categories like web gaming and premium video, where new standards have yet to fully mature. Moving forward, Adobe is committed to working with industry partners, as we have with Microsoft and Google, to help ensure the ongoing compatibility and security of Flash content."
