SPIL Games: HTML5 To Overtake Flash In Three Years

SPIL Games, one of the largest online webgames companies, has announced that all 47 of its online portals are now based in HTML5, with the firm saying that the web language is set to replace Adobe's Flash as the standard for games on the web within three years, according to a report on Develop. The Netherlands-based company put the decision to move toward HTML5 down to the number of mobile users it found were trying to access its sites. A company spokesperson stated that mobile users account for close to a million visitors each month, with 52 percent of this number coming from Apple devices that are unable to view or play Flash content. SPIL Games CEO Peter Driessen said that Apple CEO Steve Jobs "was right when he said Flash isn’t working on mobile systems -- that’s what I hear from developers as well." While SPIL is advocating the move to HTML5, it has only converted its portals to the format -- most of its games are still in Flash. But the company is clearly making the move away from Adobe's solution. To incentivize developers to switch from developing webgames in Flash to HTML5, SPIL is offering prizes totaling $50,000 (£41,000) for the best HTML5 game, encouraging the potential it says is "hampered by different protocols, operating systems, and platform-approval processes within the mobile world". "I believe HTML5 will rise above Flash on mobile," Driessen told Develop. "In fact I think in three years the majority of web games will be in HTML5. It’s inevitable that it will become the programming standard of the future.” When asked whether SPIL was concerned that Apple could abandon HTML5 in the future, just as they did Flash, Driessen said: “I don’t think Apple will back off from using HTML5; it really is the next big thing, and I think Apple will continue to support until it becomes the standard." “It will become the big game changer, and our move to HTML5 will be the beginning of a revolution where more developers will move away from Flash and produce great content.”