A list of HTML5 game publishers

(This article is a cross-post of the original article published at WiMi5.com) 

In this article, I’d like to make a list of the most important publishers of HTML5 games on the international stage. I think that this list of HTML5 distributors, publishers, and portals can be of great use as a starting point for those who are just discovering this world and don’t know very well where to begin.

The first thing you need to understand is the different types of agents. You have to distinguish between HTML5 game distributors and publishers. Distributors aggregate HTML5 games to offer them to publishers or create whitelabel portalsthat other websites with high traffic can monetize. Publishers normally have several portals or game sites that generatemillions of monthly visitors and that monetize directly, either with ad networks (like AdSense) or dealing with advertisersdirectly.

Normally, these publishers and distributors usually provide an SDK of their own to incorporate your HTML5 game into their system. Generally, they are easy to integrate and usually offer features aimed at analytics, cross-marketing, and monetization via advertising.

As for the business model, each publisher’s can vary. The community of HTML5 game developers seems to agree that the most used model is the non-exclusive license. This means that you may sell user licenses of your HTML5 games to as many publishers or distributors as you can. In contrast, with an exclusive license, you give the exploitation rights to your game to only one publisher. Choosing one model or another naturally depends on the sale figure. As we mentioned earlier, it is much less common to sell exclusive licenses than it is to sell non-exclusive ones. Finally, some publishers of HTML5 games offer a model based on the distribution of the income produced by the game (revenue share). Depending on the type of game, the publisher, and the traffic the game may generate, this is an option to bear in mind.

This is the list:

SOFTGAMES

This German publisher, headquartered in Berlin, is specialized in HTML5 games and claims to be the largest network of HTML5 games in the world. They work with more than 400 HTML5 game developers, and they have a catalogue of over 350 games which provides them with a total of 132 million game sessions. One of their founders, and CEO, Alex Krug, is an HTML5 evangelist, who usually gives talks at events around the world.

SPIL GAMES

This Dutch publisher is one of the most veteran ones in HTML5 games. With domains such as game.com, gamesgames.com, or girlsgogames.com, they receive more than 100 million unique users every month. Their game catalogue totals more than 10,000, but most of them are Flash. It’s one of the big HTML5 game publishers and one of the first options to go to.

BOOSTER MEDIA

With 12 million unique monthly users, this is another Dutch publisher to remember. They are completely specialized in HTML5 games, and are present in several countries, with offices in Tokyo, Singapore, and Sao Paolo.

GAMEPIX

This is a platform for publishing, distributing, and aggregating HTML5 games, based in Rome. They in turn distribute to other publishers in order to get the greatest amount of traffic possible for their games.

FAMOBI

This distributor, based in Colombia, also has portals such as HTML5games.com. They also offer whitelabel HTML5 game portals to be monetized by websites with a lot of traffic. They are specialized in distributing HTML5 games and have a catalogue of over 300 games.

BONGIORNO

This Italian company is part of the Japanese giant NTT Docomo. They have several game portals, such as B!Games,Giochissimo, or GamiFive, most of which work on a subscription model. They also have a large network of collaborators, including many mobile operator companies, which eases the distribution of games and the charging of subscriptions.

MINIJUEGOS

This is a publisher with 4.5 million monthly users, of which 1.4 are in Spain, and the rest in Spanish-speaking countries. They also have other portals, such as miniplay, minigiochi, or minijogos.

PLAY.IM

This publisher (some games are provided to it by Gamepix) has portals such as yepi, Bgames, or Huz. Many of their games are Flash, but there are more and more HTML5 games. For example, they’ve launched a new portal called Yepi Mobilewhich is totally for HTML5 games. In total, they have 25 million unique users every month.

Apart from this list of publishers of HTML5 games, there are other ones already out there which are very interesting and which provide different types of information. For example, the forum called Sponsors and Portals (which is only open to registered and active members of this forum of developers of HTML5 games) provides first-hand information by many developers, and is constantly being updated. In general, the forums at HTML5 Game Devs are one of the best ways to getinformation and contact with interesting agents in the sector, and of course with HTML5 game publishers.

Another good reference is the list at TrueValhalla, which has a variety of information, for example, about the type of licenses each portal offers or the traffic each HTML5 game publisher generates. However, this list does not include distributors such as Famobi or Gamepix.