Unity to end Web Player support

Unity is set to end support for Web Player as browser vendors move away from plug-ins.

Google, Microsoft and Mozilla are all ending support for plug-ins in Chrome, Edge and Firefox. A lack of support for NPAPI plug-ins would mean the Unity Web Player will no longer work, and the changes could render a number of games unplayable.

As a result, Unity is no longer recommending use of the Player. Developers will still be able to publish Web Player content in versions 5.2 and 5.3 of the engine. Support will officially end when Unity 5.4 ships in March 2016.

From then, developers will have to use the engine’s WebGL export, currently in preview. WebGL has a number of key differences from Web Player, including restrictions on networking protocols.

Unity has said it is working on making sure old Web Player games are still playable on new browsers without NPAPI support.

“Unity deeply understands the importance and historical relevance of Web Player powered games and keeping this back catalogue of games playable is something we care about,” said Unity programmer Jonas Echterhoff.

“We have formed a working group to investigate alternative technical solutions and will update the community as we progress.”