Google has announced that effective 2017, it will no longer be supporting its app platform for the internet browser Chrome. This means that all game development for those apps will be forced to cease, and back peddle onto a different platform.
“We have always believed in making the open, interoperable web as strong as possible”, says vice president of product management Rahul Roy-Chowdhury in a blog post. But he believes ” it’s time to begin the evolution away from the Chrome apps platform.”
While the platform certainly has an decent development, its use is paltry comparatively. Chowdhury estimates that only 1% of users on Windows, Mac, and Linux use Chrome apps, and most of the hosted apps are already built in to your web browser. The platform is simply not being used as much as they had hoped.
Google’s plans is that new apps will only be functional on Chrome OS devices, and in 2017, the Web Store itself will not show any apps for Windows, Mac, or Linux. However, the store will still provide extensions and themes for those interested.
The software giant is also encouraging developers to transfer their work-in-progress apps to the web, in order to mitigate time loss.
According to Gamasutra, Google had recently shut down their Native Client technology, which hosted notable games such as action role playing game hit Bastion. This software had also allowed developers to publish their games onto Steam.