Adobe’s “Angry Bird Tax”
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A quick note to clear up any potential confusion a recent Adobe announcement regarding Flash Player licensing…
Adobe essentially said two things,
“Premium features will allow game publishers using native C/C++ console game engines to target Flash Player. Premium features is usage of both domain memory and Stage3D GPU hardware acceleration in combination. Domain memory allows cross-compiled C/C++ to run in Flash Player, including non-ActionScript game engines…”
This does not affect developers who:
- create anything for the browser in Flash Player that use “domain memory”
- create anything for the browser in Flash Player that use Stage3D
- create anything using Adobe AIR including the use of Stage3D and domain memory
- create anything for mobile devices using Adobe AIR including the use of Stage3D and domain memory
The only reason to be concerned with this announcement is if, as a developer/company, you create browser-based applications that use domain memory in combination with hardware accelerated Stage3D in Flash Player AND the revenue for the application is $50,000 or higher.
However, many established frameworks which developers may integrate do use both these components of the Flash Player, so be aware of your development requirements and resources. If you have questions on your product development plans, contact Adobe.
Essentially, if your application (i.e. game) is so popular that Adobe takes notice, congratulations! Many folks would like to have that problem… Here at ICS, as we continue to develop Flash-based eLearning applications with Flash, and some of which will use the 3D API, we’re watching the development of this licensing update closely, but it seems unlikely this will be an issue for us or our customers for whom we develop custom training content.