Ah, Farmville. Do you remember the days when Facebook was slightly less of a gigantic, monstrous intruder in our lives and was instead a place to “poke” one another, share rage comics and invite people to visit your paddock in Farmville? That was a difficult sentence to write without physically retching. While two of those aspects have fallen into the void of time to (fortunately) wipe themselves from the current zeitgeist, Farmville has managed to plough along even if it’s no where near as popular as it once was. Still, it’s bad news for the four people still playing as the app is officially ending support this December.
Technically developer Zynga’s not ending support but Adobe is turning its back on Flash Player, a component that was necessary to run a great many games on one’s browser. This obviously prompted Facebook to do the same as the social media company is pulling the plug on all Flash games on the platform. Zynga’s made a few more farming-related games that won’t be affected but Farmville was always their most well-known and for a time beloved title.
“We’re aware that many of you have been with us since the very beginning, helping to build an incredible global community of players over the years who’ve enjoyed this game just as much as we have. For that we say thank you.” reads the official statement put out by Zynga.
In-app purchases will still be live until 17 November after which all payments will be disabled before the game closes forever on 31 December 2020. Of course, while it’s always sad to see a game come to the end of its lifespan, even if it was super annoying, it’s a reminder that the death of Flash Player is going to kill so many beloved games that have all just… been there.
A few preservation efforts have been put in place to ensure games like Lineride, Alien Hominid, and Super Mario 63 will still be playable but it remains to be seen whether the same treatment will be given to Farmville.
Last Updated: September 29, 2020
