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Twitch ditches Flash for HTML5 in latest Adobe snub

Twitch is slowly, but surely, moving away from using Adobe’s ailing Flash software platform.

The video game streaming service today announced it was replacing its Flash-based video controls with HTML5 and Javascript.

Unfortunately, underneath the controls, the video itself is still in Flash – it’s a move in the right direction, mind.

This is an important step to releasing the much-anticipated full HTML5 player,” a Twitch blog post explains.

The new player will show up on channel pages first, but it’s worth noting that this is a gradual roll out.

“If you are not part of our initial pool of users, please be patient as we release the redesigned player at a steady pace,” the Amazon-owned company said.

Related: 5 reasons why Amazon bought Twitch

Flash has always received criticism for its security vulnerabilities and inefficiency, but it’s recently been dropped by a number of big names including YouTube and Mozilla Firefox.

Twitch is the latest to join the assault against the withering platform, so it’s safe to say Flash’s days may be numbered.

Flash’s biggest competitor, HTML5, is much more energy efficient, and handles resources far more effectively than Flash.

According to a Twitch staff member posting to Reeddit, the unoptimised version of the HTML5 player uses a third of the CPU and memory than the current Flash player does.

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