This week at Bungie, we revealed Season of Opulence.

What began with a notion of secrets has evolved into a treasure hunt. On the journey of our creative process, we arrived at a new experience that is more about discovery than mystery. Calus has issued an imperial summons. Your invitation to plunder the vaults aboard his Leviathan has arrived. Season of Opulence does have secrets for you to discover—Destiny always does.

Here is a preview of what adventures await.

Ready to play? These are the dates you should save!

This is the last weekly update before the new Season starts. Let’s dig in and cover the final details before the games begin.

Choose Wisely

Calus would see you grow fat from strength. During Season of Opulence, he will be granting players the Chalice of Opulence, which serves as players’ gateway to treasure. Players who emerge victorious in the Menagerie will use the Chalice to serve up an offering of runes in exchange for the weapons and gear they choose from the selection of items available. The treasure you find will be limited at first, but over time you’ll be able to upgrade the Chalice to acquire more plentiful and powerful rewards.

Each player will claim their Chalice at the start of the Season through an introductory quest line. From there, it can be shared between different Guardians on the same account.

How does it work?

It’s upgradable!

You will have a host of new Triumphs and bounties to complete that will reward a new currency called Imperials. Using these Imperials, you can upgrade your Chalice to acquire a variety of perks with a wide range of effects, from giving you more powerful rewards per week to allowing you to choose the specific gun and Masterwork stat you get from the Menagerie!

You can earn Imperials several ways:

You choose which upgrades you unlock first!

So, for example, if you wanted to earn a random roll of a “Beloved” Sniper Rifle with Handling as the Masterwork trait, you would use a Rune of Jubilation, any red rune, and any purple rune. This rune configuration is your freebie. We’re excited for the community to come together and uncover combinations for each Menagerie reward.

We hope this gives you a better idea of how you’ll earn weapons and armor during Season of Opulence. You will still have to grind to get that perfect roll, but we have given you the option to target the item that you want to optimize and Masterwork.

Pinnacle Weapons and More

Last week, we promised we would share the details on the new pinnacle weapons coming in Season of Opulence as well as some other weapons we are buffing. Here is the Destiny Dev Team to give you one last preview before show time.

Destiny Dev Team: As with Season of the Drifter, we have another three pinnacle weapons to earn in Season of Opulence.

Vanguard—Wendigo-GL3 (Arc Adaptive Grenade Launcher)

• Wendigo-GL3’s unique perk is “Explosive Light—Picking up an Orb of Light increases the next grenade’s blast radius and damage”
• Unlike most drum Grenade Launchers, Wendigo-GL3 comes with Blinding Grenades as its magazine option for some added utility to shut down teleporting Taken Captains or that Cabal Gladiator about to get in your face
• You can carry up to six grenades enhanced by Explosive Light, so be sure to not let any Orbs of Light slip through your fingers when you’ve got this weapon equipped

Crucible—Revoker (Kinetic Aggressive Sniper Rifle)

• Revoker’s unique perk is “Reversal of Fortune—Missing a shot returns the bullet to the magazine after a short duration”
• Even the greatest of snipers is not a perfect sharpshooter, and you miss every shot you don’t take
• Revoker was built with the mindset that you should always go for it, but keep in mind that Reversal of Fortune can only return a single bullet at a time
• Along with its unique perk, this sniper has a custom low zoom Ambush SLH25 scope and Snapshot for those close quarters battles
• Acquiring Revoker will not require reaching Fabled rank in Competitive
• Players will need to earn 3500 total Glory points
• You do not lose progress when losing a match

Gambit—Hush (Solar Precision Combat Bow)

• Hush’s unique perk is “Archer’s Gambit—Hipfire precision hits grant a massive draw speed bonus for a short duration”
• This weapon is for those who would proclaim mastery with the Combat Bow
• Archer’s Gambit pays out significantly better than Archer’s Tempo, but it’s going to take a more skilled hand to get the most out of it
• Make those shots count

We also have a few weapons and archetypes getting some tuning to make them more effective. Contrary to a popular meme, we will be buffing Fusion Rifles this season.

Fusion Rifles

• Non-Exotic Fusion Rifles
• Damage increased against PvE combatants
• High-Impact increased by 30%
• Precision increased by 44%
• Adaptive increased by 44%
• Rapid-Fire increased by 47%

While some of the Exotic Fusion Rifles (Telesto, Jötunn, Merciless) did receive minor adjustments due to inheriting from their Legendary counterparts, they’re minor increases, under 5% each. This change was done to move Legendary Fusion Rifles a little closer to the Exotics as the gap between them was quite large, at least in PvE.

Sturm and Drang

• Storm and Stress max overcharge rounds increased to 99
• “Sturm Overcharge” buff text now displays the number of overcharge rounds
• Overcharge damage increased by 100% in PvE

Sturm and Drang were weapons that lost a bit of their place in PvE once Forsaken hit. Not being able to carry around a special weapon hurts your output, so Sturm fell to the wayside. With these changes, along with a new version of Drang coming out in the Season of Opulence, we hope that it has some time to shine again.

Swords

• Ammo capacity increased to a max of 70
• Starting ammo increased by 10
• Black Talon
• Ground and aerial projectile ammo cost increased from 3 to 4
• Adaptive Frame
• Ground uppercut ammo cost increased from 3 to 4
• Aggressive Frame
• Now lunge at target with their aerial light attack
• Light attack consolidated into a single damage event
• Slam attack consolidated into a single damage event
• Slam attack ammo cost increased from 3 to 4
• Lightweight Frame
• Damage tuning
• Ground light attack increased by 17%
• Aerial light attack decreased by 21%
• Ground dash attack increased by 87%
• Aerial dash attack increased by 78%
• No ammo aerial light attack decreased by 49%
• All other no ammo attacks decreased by 15%
• Ground dash attack ammo cost increased from 2 to 3

Swords are getting some adjustments. We increased ammo capacity, but also increased the cost of heavy attacks proportionally to encourage mixing in light attacks to get the most out of them instead of just repeatedly using heavy attacks. Also, much like how Drang will show up in a new form for the Season of Opulence, the Lightweight and Aggressive swords are getting the same treatment.

Raiders of the Lost Vault

Are you an avid raider, but don’t think you can finish first? There are still some other enticing rewards available for those brave enough to tackle the raid soon after launch. If you are able to defeat the final encounter in the first 24 hours, you will receive the “Heavy is the Crown” emblem.

Patch Note Preview

Next week, Season of Opulence will go live. Update 2.5.0 is the ship carrying it to your platform of choice. We wanted to take this final moment to give you one last preview of some of the changes you can expect to see in the full patch notes on June 4.

Hot Pursuit

One more notable upgrade you’ll notice as Season of Opulence begins will be your Pursuits tab.

The Pursuits menu will be moved from your Inventory to the Director. With this update, you’ll be able to switch between Pursuits and the Director overview in one move. With the objectives displayed in the new tab, it should be easier than ever for you to plan your gameplay session and knock out some bounties more efficiently. We also added some filters to give you a “quests only” and “bounties only” view, so you can separate limited-time pursuits from long-term pursuits. We also increased the pursuits inventory size from 50 to 63 to give you more room to hoard some bounties.

At Your Service

This is their report.

Destiny 2 Update 2.5.0.1

Next Tuesday, June 4, the 2.5.0.1 update will be released to players in Destiny 2. This update marks the beginning of Season of Opulence, and is required in order to access Destiny 2 once it has been deployed. Listed below is the release timeline for this update.

Tuesday, June 4:

• 7 AM PDT (1400 UTC): Destiny 2 maintenance will begin.
• 8 AM PDT (1500 UTC): Destiny 2 and Companion features will be taken offline. Destiny 2 Update 2.5.0.1 will begin rolling out across all platforms and regions.*
• 10 AM PDT (1700 UTC): Maintenance will conclude. Destiny 2 and Companion features will be back online. Season of Opulence will begin.

*Players on console who are taking an abnormally long time to receive this update should try updating manually. Follow the links below for instructions on how to accomplish this:

Players who still do not see this update may wish to try power cycling their console hardware. To do this, players should:

1. Completely power down the console. Ensure that the device is not in rest mode.
2. Unplug the console from its power source.
3. Wait 5 minutes.
4. Plug back in and try again.

If the update is available, it should begin downloading automatically after power cycling the console hardware. If not, players may wish to try manually checking for this update once more before resorting to another power cycle.

During this same window, we will also be conducting backend maintenance for Destiny 1. For live updates during this deployment window, players should follow @BungieHelp on Twitter or monitor our support feed at help.bungie.net.

Crown of Sorrow Raid World First Race

Last week at Bungie, we promised that we’d share more information about how players can make sure they are at the starting line for the Crown of Sorrow raid at 4 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 4. Here’s what you need to know:

• As called out last week, players must complete the day one quest for Season of Opulence in order to access the Crown of Sorrow raid once it unlocks at 4 PM PDT.
• In game, this quest will be granted to players as “An Imperial Summons,” and will conclude as “The Invitation.”
• As players complete this quest, they will be awarded rare gear that will bring them up to 690 Power.

We’d also like to remind all World First contenders that players who join in progress during the Crown of Sorrow raid’s first encounter will spawn in dead outside of the encounter space. To mitigate this issue, all fireteam members must join up in Orbit prior to launching the Crown of Sorrow raid activity.

Living in Infamy

Players should be aware that turning in completed Gambit or Gambit Prime bounties from Season of the Drifter after Season of Opulence begins will result in the player’s next Infamy rank up granting rewards capped at 700 Power.

To mitigate this, players are encouraged to turn in all completed bounties before Season of Opulence begins. For more information, players should see the “Cleaning House” sections of the following blog posts:

Movies

Listen, we got the movies. They are ready to go below. As always, if you win, make sure your player name is in the description of the video so we can get you your emblem. Let’s do this.

Movie of the Week: TR3-VR Perfected

Honorable Mention: Mirror

If you’re hungry for new rewards to add to your collection, here’s some concept art to hold you over until next Tuesday.

We mentioned that we’re about to begin a Season that will close out this year of Destiny 2. We’re hoping that has you wondering what we have in store for the next year of Destiny 2, because we have some exciting announcements to make. Once the new Season has begun, the Chalices have been claimed, and a brave fireteam of Guardians write their names into the history of raid champions, you’ll have a new invitation to accept…

We hope to see you there—for all of it. Next week will be all about new beginnings. It wouldn’t be the same without you.

<3 Cozmo

Almost since their inception, mobile phones have played host to interactive entertainment. Older Nintendo Life readers may recall spending hours playing Snake on their battered Nokia whilst waiting for the bus to arrive, but more recently smartphones have totally revolutionised the way we play on the go – to the point where even Nintendo has joined the party, via a series of phone exclusive titles like Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes and Pokémon GO. However, there have been precious few attempts to marry phones and games successfully; Sony’s Xperia Play and Nokia’s N-Gage being two high-profile failures.

You can detach the left-hand controller and use it as a self-contained pad, held sideways

Still, where there’s a will, there’s a way, and the arrival of the Nintendo Switch – which, lest we forget, uses Nvidia chips which were originally intended for mobile tech like tablets and smartphones – has emboldened a new generation of device makers keen to blur the line between phone and games console and thereby create an entirely new sector in the increasingly competitive smartphone market. We’ve already covered the Huawei Mate 20 X, which was directly compared to Nintendo’s hybrid system during its unveiling, and companies like Asus and Razer have also released similar handsets recently. However, none of these has given us quite the same feeling of déjà vu as the Android-based Black Shark 2 – a ‘gaming’ phone which comes with optional slide-on controllers that bear more than a passing resemblance to the Switch Joy-Con we know and love.

As the name suggests, the Black Shark 2 isn’t the first phone in this line; the original Black Shark arrived last year. An off-shoot of the Chinese tech giant Xiaomi, Black Shark (the company, not the phone) is eyeing up the burgeoning ‘gaming phone’ space and has clearly been inspired by Nintendo when it comes to interface design – although the mechanics seen here are notably less sophisticated than the Switch. Rather than connecting directly with the phone itself, the left and right-hand controllers slide onto a snap-on plastic case and pair using Bluetooth; because of this, they require charging separately using a USB-C connection. Still, at least one of the Nintendo’s party tricks has been carried over – you can detach the left-hand controller and use it as a self-contained pad, held sideways. Heck, you can even connect it to your TV via the USB-C port at the bottom.

The analogue stick feels nice and responsive, as do the face buttons and the gloriously tactile quartet of shoulder buttons. There’s no stick on the right-hand pad – this is replaced by a touchpad which is intended as an on-screen mouse pointer – so you sadly can’t break off those pads for an impromptu local multiplayer match, which seems like a missed opportunity. Battery life is excellent, and the pads slide onto the aforementioned case with a satisfying click – even if there’s no physical connection present between the phone and the controller. The other cool thing is that the Black Shark 2 phone has a dedicated ‘Shark Space’ mode, which is triggered by flicking a switch on the side of the handset. This mutes all incoming notifications and frees up as much available memory as possible so you’re getting the most out of the hardware – hardware which, even when compared to the Switch, is cutting-edge stuff.

In terms of pure specs, it’s vastly superior to the tech found inside Nintendo’s console

The Black Shark 2 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset and up to 12GB of RAM; in terms of pure specs, it’s vastly superior to the tech found inside Nintendo’s console. It also boasts a 1080p, HDR-ready AMOLED screen which has excellent colour depth and striking contrast, all contained within bodywork which mixes metal, plastic and glass to neat effect. There’s even a set of LEDs arrayed around the casing which gently pulsate whilst you’re playing. (This is a common feature of gaming phones and laptops, so gamers must like this kind of thing, we guess?) Still not convinced? The Black Shark 2 has something called the “Mille-Feuille Full Area Liquid Cooling System” to prevent overheating and even has a ‘Ludicrous Mode’ which allows you to extract the maximum possible performance from the silicon. Gulp.

Then there are the games. While it’s true that the general quality of smartphone games is lower than console titles, it’s quite interesting to find we have several direct means of comparison between Switch and the Black Shark 2. Fortnite is, of course, available, and runs at a higher resolution. Hello Neighbor also offers a direct point of reference, although it’s worth noting that it appears to run quite a low resolution on both smartphones and Switch. Elsewhere, Sega’s suite of free-to-play Mega Drive / Genesis classics look amazing on that punchy AMOLED display, but you’ll want to opt for the paid-for editions as the constant adverts can seriously get in the way of the gameplay. Then there are titles like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Real Racing 3 and Final Fantasy Tactics, all of which would be very welcome on the eShop – but aren’t available on Switch at present. There’s also the large selection of emulators available on the Google Play Store, which cover pretty much every retro format under the sun, right up to the PlayStation, Saturn and Dreamcast. It goes without saying that the catalogue of games on Switch is far, far superior, but it’s equally true that there are plenty of decent titles to play on the Black Shark 2 – even if none of them are up to the standard of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and they lack the tight optimisation of ‘proper’ console releases.

Indeed, that last point is worth focusing on here, because actually configuring the Black Shark 2’s controllers to work with the vast majority of mobile games is a real chore. While some will auto-detect the analogue stick, most refuse to acknowledge it and we didn’t play a single game that successfully mapped all of the controls on start-up. Instead, you have to bring up a set of on-screen buttons and drag-and-drop them over the various touch-screen controls in order to bind them to the physical inputs of the controllers. Once you’ve done this, it’s plain sailing – but it’s a barrier to entry which means the Black Shark 2 user experience isn’t anywhere near as seamless as the Nintendo Switch.

The final sticking point is the price; the Black Shark 2 costs £500 in the UK, which is almost twice the cost of the Switch – and you don’t get the controllers in with that; they cost an additional £70. Of course, the catch here is that this is a phone as well as a games console, so you could argue that it offers better value for money as it does so much more than Nintendo’s system. But is it a better gaming platform? That’s highly debatable, and based on the evidence we’ve seen so far, Nintendo has little to worry about when it comes to smartphone-based challengers to its portable crown.

Thanks to Black Shark for supplying the gear used in this feature.

Bordeaux-based Shiro Games has revealed that its PC real time strategy game Northgard is headed to consoles later in 2019, and that includes your favourite handheld hybrid.

The game went into Early Access on Steam in February 2017 and officially launched just over a year later. Steeped in Norse mythology, you’ll be discovering new lands, settling with your clan, battling hostile creatures and roaming around like a classic, rowdy Viking warrior. Did those guys ever just chill with a cup of tea and maybe a spot of fishing?

Sebastien Vidal, CEO and co-founder at Shiro Games had this to say in the press release

“We are very happy to reveal that we are bringing Northgard to all three consoles later this year. We have worked hard to optimize Northgard for the controller, and to be played on the go in the Switch version. All the content of the original version will be available at launch. This includes the campaign mode, leaderboards, all six clans and much more.“

Specific mention of the Switch version and optimisation gives us some hope that this isn’t just a quick and dirty port for Nintendo’s console. A promo shot for a boxed version suggests we’ll be seeing a physical release for this one, too:

Fancy a spot of sailing and pillaging? Have you played this game on PC? Let us know how you found it below.

It’s been an exciting few months since we first saw Agents band together to take on the cruel and corrupt TerraNova Corporation in Crackdown 3 with Xbox Game Pass and on Xbox One and Windows 10 PC, and today we’re excited to release, for free, the Crackdown 3 Extra Edition with boomtastic updates to Campaign and Wrecking Zone!

First up: Keys to the City, a deep menu of Campaign tools and cheats that gives you control of the world and access to a wide variety of overpowered abilities. Throw down with Elemental Fists, become invincible with God Mode or hit the jets with Super Speed! But why stop there? On your quest to reclaim New Providence, invite a co-op friend and create your own Faction Retaliations, or Lockdown the city and fight your way out with unlimited ammo and gadgets. Get creative by spawning enemies, vehicles, explosive barrels and other props wherever you’d like. When you have Keys to the City, the possibilities are endless!

But that’s not all… It wouldn’t be extra unless we talked about Wrecking Zone, Crackdown 3’s fully-destructible multiplayer battle arena. Today’s update brings a new vanity progression system to Wrecking Zone, with 100 tiers of items to customize your Agent! Earn Agency Points during matches to unlock holographic ‘LENS’ adornments, helmets, weapon skins—and more! We’ve also given the overall experience a fresh coat of paint, adding Agent customization screens, six different types of ‘Overdrive’ Skill boosts, and a host of other user interface updates. There’s never been a better time to jump into the cloud-powered destruction of Wrecking Zone!

On behalf of the whole Crackdown 3 team, thank you for playing, and we hope you enjoy this free Extra Edition update. You can read the complete list of update features here. Crackdown 3 is available now with Xbox Game Pass on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs. For the latest news stay tuned to Xbox Wire.

Protoculture Games has announced an expansion pack for Switch shoot ’em up Devil Engine including new stages, new music and more. The game released in February this year and this expansion will launch later in 2019 alongside a PS4 version.

According to the company, the expansion will launch as DLC on Switch and include the following:

– 6 new stages, doubling the size of the game
– New arranged soundtrack by a variety of veteran composers, such as Shinji Hosoe (Street Fighter EX), Saitama Saisyu Heiki (Koihime Enbu) and Loser Kashiwagi (CHO REN SHA 68K)
– Fan favorite secret ship “Scathach” is now available from the start
– All new ship “Boudicca”, exclusive to Ignition
– New unlockable shaders and features to customize your game
– A new announcer powered by Vocaloid technology

Protoculture also shared the following picture on its Twitter account highlighting the pedigree behind its arranged soundtrack:

We liked Devil Engine when we reviewed it back in February, awarding it an 8/10 and giving the following verdict:

[Devil Engine] has at least been designed in a way that encourages even the weakest players to keep trying and learn from their mistakes. The drip-feed of content is an effective incentive to pick yourself up and have just one more go, and although it is at times brutally difficult – even when compared to other tricky 2D shooters – it has the depth and variety to maintain your interest, and when you’re at a competent level it’s a heck of a lot of fun.

Although we considered it, Devil Engine wasn’t quite good enough to make it onto our list of the best shmups on Switch. We hope that this extra content will give the game a shot in the arm and make it a contender when it launches this winter.

Are you a fan of the vanilla game? Will you be investigating this extra content? Share your thoughts in the usual place.

Fifty years ago, on June 28, LGBTQI+ patrons and allies at New York City’s Stonewall Inn stood up for justice demanding an equal life free of persecution. This year, as more than 4,000 Microsoft employees march in Pride parades in more than 60 cities and 30 countries around the world, we invite you to join us in pushing inclusion forward.

To commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, we’re taking action for equity by donating to LGBTQI+ nonprofits. Plus, we’re releasing limited-edition products designed with and by the LGBTQI+ community.

Microsoft has a history of LGBTQI+ inclusion

For us, Pride is an opportunity to reflect on our past and galvanize for action. We started our inclusion journey early in the company’s history, introducing sexual orientation in our non-discrimination policies in 1989. In 1993, we were one of the first companies in the world to offer employee benefits to same-sex domestic partners. In 2004, we added gender identity to our Equal Employment Opportunity statement and started providing gender affirming healthcare services. Since 2005, Microsoft has attained a top  score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, which indicates that Microsoft is establishing and applying policies to protect the LGBTQI+ community.

Our journey is just beginning

Today, Microsoft operates in over 120 countries, most of which still don’t provide legal protections for LGBTQI+ individuals. This year, Microsoft’s Pride campaign is all about the actions that our employees and customers are taking to advance inclusion. GLEAM (Global LGBTQI+ Employees and Allies at Microsoft), our LGBTQI+ resource group, worked with many of our teams to develop products to create visibility into the LGBTQI+ community.

In designing this year’s Pride campaign, LGBTQI+ designers and allies at Microsoft reflected on the LGBTQI+ rights movement of the 1970s. Dozens of LGBTQI+ community members and their allies submitted designs for campaign buttons displaying everything from personal statements to political slogans. These buttons reflect actions that people at Microsoft are taking and are encouraging others to take.

Microsoft is releasing all the button designs as a downloadable archive so everyone can use them, add to them and share their Pride with everyone, wherever they are.

For the first time, we’ve also created limited-edition products and curated content to show our continued support for the LGBTQI+ community.

• Surface – Inspired by the rich and varied tapestry of the LGBTQI+ community, make a more colorful impact with the limited-edition Surface Pro Pride Type Cover and Pride Skin available in the US, Canada, Australia, and the U.K. (only Type Cover).

• Windows – This Windows 10 special-edition theme was inspired by the many LGBTQI+ flags. Download the Windows Pride theme pack from the Microsoft Store.
• Mixer – Discover Pride on Mixer with dedicated streams from select partners, unique stickers, and exclusive programs. Tune in on June 30^th to live stream the Seattle Pride Parade!
• Bing – Learn more about Stonewall on Bing with uniquely curated content featuring LGBTQI+ activism dating back to 1969 with this quiz. And see Pride take over the Bing homepage in select countries around the world.
• Office – Show your Pride colors with the exclusive Office theme and unique Pride templates for PowerPoint.
• Skype – Celebrate Pride with Skype’s new LGBTQI+ flag emoticons, stickers, and more.
• Xbox – Show your colors and celebrate your love of gaming with the Xbox Pride Sphere Pin available at xbox.com.
• Microsoft Rewards – Support LGBTQI+ youth in crisis by donating to The Trevor Project in June, and we’ll match it. Not a Microsoft Rewards member? Join today and we’ll give you $1 free to donate.
• Microsoft Store – Visit your local Microsoft Store to take part in a Pride celebration, march with us, or learn more at educational workshops, events, and other activities.

Actions speak louder than words!

We’re donating $100,000 to the following nonprofits in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States to celebrate and support their work on LGBTQI+ equity:

• Established in 1985, ACON is Australia’s largest health promotion organization specializing in HIV prevention, HIV support and LGBTQ health.
• Egale works to improve the lives of LGBTQI2S people in Canada and to enhance the global response to LGBTQI2S issues. They do this by informing public policy, inspiring cultural change, and promoting human rights and inclusion.
• Mermaids is the only U.K.-wide charity working to support transgender or gender non-conforming children, young people, and their families. Their goal is to create a world where gender-diverse children and young people can be themselves and thrive. Mermaids promotes education and awareness, and offers information, support, friendship and shared experiences to those in need.
•  The Trevor Project is the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning young people under 25.

We’re also happy to announce that LGBTQI+ nonprofit, Destination Tomorrow, was awarded a grant from the Microsoft Store to support their inclusion efforts for people of color. See what happened when we took action to help them thrive.

We invite everyone to join us in taking action for equality. Microsoft Pride 2019 products launch today! Follow along with our stories all month and learn more about actions you can take for equality by joining the social conversation using #MicrosoftPride.

Tags: Bing, LGBTQI+, MicrosoftPride, Pride, Windows, XBOX

By Ian Boudreau 30 May 2019

In 2017 Adobe announced the End Of Life for the Flash browser plugin was coming at the end of 2020.  Flash developers still had the ability to deploy their applications to desktops and mobile devices using Adobe AIR technology.  Today, Adobe announced the EOL for that platform as well.

As of June 2019, Adobe is transitioning ongoing platform support and feature development of AIR to HARMAN. This will coincide with an Adobe-issued update of AIR, v32, for supported mobile and desktop platforms. HARMAN has a long-standing history as an Adobe AIR partner, maintains knowledge of the platform and ecosystem, and is well-positioned to support AIR developers moving forward.

HARMAN (a wholly‐owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.) designs and engineers connected products and solutions for automakers, consumers, and enterprises worldwide. HARMAN’s software services power billions of mobile devices and systems that are connected, integrated and secure across all platforms, from work and home to car and mobile. Adobe has a long history collaborating with HARMAN, which is a key partner for Flash runtime migration and enterprise support as companies transition their existing ActionScript and Flex applications to new technologies. HARMAN has also been supporting customers with bespoke versions of Adobe AIR for the past decade.

Adobe will provide basic security support – limited to security fixes only for desktop platforms (Windows 7 and above, and Mac OS X) – for Adobe AIR v32 until the end of 2020. After that time, Adobe support for AIR will be discontinued and ongoing support will be managed by HARMAN and communicated by them directly. However, beginning with the release of AIR v33 by HARMAN, developers should contact HARMAN directly for AIR support on both mobile and desktop platforms – including bug fixes, platform compatibility, and new and improved functionality.

This means HARMAN will now control the future of the AIR platform and I would certainly expect Adobe tools to complete the transition away from supporting Flash, removing a great deal of the developer appeal in the first place.  You can learn more about HARMAN’s future plans for the Flash/AIR platform here.

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