GamesWeb and HTML5 games playbook
Outpost picks the right portal strategy for your game, from Poki's exclusive deal to non-exclusive spreads across CrazyGames, Y8 and others, checks every SDK and size rule, and lines up the communities that give a browser game its first players. Receipts for every action, $0 extra spend.
01 · DISCOVERY
Browser players rarely search for a specific new game. They open a portal they already use (CrazyGames, Poki, Coolmath Games, Y8, Newgrounds) and click what the portal surfaces, so the portal's testing and ranking systems are the real discovery engine. Distributors like GameDistribution and Playgama syndicate games to many smaller sites. Communities such as r/WebGames and game jams on itch.io add early players and feedback, and newer surfaces like YouTube Playables and Discord Activities count as web distribution in portal contracts.
A player clicks a thumbnail, waits for the game to load, and decides within moments whether to keep playing; portals set hard limits on load size and time-to-gameplay for this reason. Portals watch engagement during an initial test and promote games that hold players. Revenue comes from ads and sometimes in-app purchases shared with the portal, so the developer's 'customer' is first the portal and then the player.
02 · CHANNELS
Ranked 5 (essential) to 1 (optional) by the research for this industry.
These are where browser players are. CrazyGames starts games in a Basic Launch to a limited audience and needs at least 500 plays before a Full Launch with monetization. Poki hand-picks games and offers a web-exclusive deal with a 50/50 split on players it brings and 100% on players who arrive directly.
If you stay non-exclusive, Y8 (50% of eligible ad revenue), Lagged, Playgama, GameDistribution and GamePix spread the game widely. Each has its own SDK and rules, and some prohibit external links or other ad systems.
r/WebGames wants a direct link to a playable game with the name first in the title. Newgrounds has a voting community that judges new uploads, which gives honest feedback fast but deletes games that score poorly.
itch.io jams, GMTK Game Jam and Ludum Dare give a fixed deadline, an audience of other developers and players, and a way to test a concept before investing in portal polish.
Coolmath Games buys non-exclusive licences for 'thinking' games with no violence, and Armor Games negotiates branding, site exclusivity or IAP. Both are worth a pitch for games that fit.
YouTube Playables is in early access via an interest form. These surfaces count as web in Poki's exclusive terms, so decide your exclusivity first.
BUSINESS MODEL · LIVE
The same channel can be a strong fit for a paid game and a poor one for a free one. Each line below is a rule or rating from Outpost's knowledge base, with its source; your own plan is built from your answers.
CrazyGames documents no paid-download or subscription model; games are free to play and monetize through ads and, by invitation, IAP.
In-game purchases on CrazyGames are invite-only, run through Xsolla, and are limited to signed-in users.
Playgama supports both ads and in-app purchases through its Bridge SDK, pays 70% of net revenue up to US$1,000, 80% on revenue from US$1,000 to US$3,000 and 90% above US$3,000, and claims IAP-enabled games earn up to 1.8x ad-only releases.
Coolmath Games requires games with no advertising (not even for the developer's own site), no external links, and no violence or foul language, and pays through a non-exclusive licence instead.
CrazyGames allows only SDK-requested ads: midgame ads at most once every 3 minutes (the SDK enforces it) and never while the user is playing, optional rewarded ads, at most 2 in-game banners per screen and only on screens open 5 seconds or more on average, and ad-blocker users must be able to play normally (features may be blocked with a notice).
GameDistribution monetizes through its HTML5 SDK ads (a video ad must play before the SDK is flagged); its split is unpublished and IAP support was not found.
CrazyGames documents no paid-download or subscription model; games are free to play and monetize through ads and, by invitation, IAP.
Poki does not allow in-app purchases or 'remove ads' UI; all monetization is Poki SDK ads (commercialBreak/rewardedBreak), with no other ad systems.
CrazyGames restricts sales of loot boxes and similar paid random mechanics in Belgium, China, the Netherlands, Serbia and Slovakia; in Taiwan and South Korea unless per-item percentage odds are disclosed; and in Japan where an item can be worth less than the box price or the game's terms do not prohibit real-money or secondary-market trading.
Apple Arcade games are played by subscribers without ads or in-app purchases, so an ad- or IAP-funded design does not fit Arcade.
On Apple's stores, credits or in-game currency bought through in-app purchase may not expire, and unlocking features, game levels or in-game currency must use in-app purchase, except where Apple's link-out entitlements (3.1.1(a)) apply or on the United States storefront, where buttons and external links to other purchase methods are allowed (Guideline 3.1.1).
Coolmath Games accepts only HTML5 games (no Flash or plugins) and requires them to have no ads, no external links, no stats counter reporting back to the developer, and name entry disabled.
CrazyGames expects games to work on Chrome and Edge; games that run poorly on Safari are disabled there, Chromebook play is disabled unless smooth on a 4 GB RAM device, and Unity games are disabled on iOS by default pending review.
CrazyGames limits a game to 1,500 files.
CrazyGames requires an initial download of 50MB or less, measured from the start of loading to the SDK 'Gameplay start' event (or as total file size when the SDK is not integrated), and 20MB or less to be eligible for the mobile homepage.
Read from Outpost's knowledge base on Nov 8, 2026; every line links its source.
03 · YOUR FIRST MONTH
A sample month. Your own plan is built from your audit, stage and goal, and paid options only ever appear as optional boosts.
Week 1 · days 1–7
Week 2 · days 8–14
Week 3 · days 15–21
Week 4 · days 22–30
04 · WHERE TO BE LISTED
Costs are as published by each destination when the research was reviewed; check before you pay for anything.
crazygames.com
A large portal with a staged launch: Basic Launch to a limited audience, then Full Launch with SDK and monetization.
Free; revenue share from Full Launch, paid monthly over €100
poki.com
Hand-picked portal with free playtests and a web-exclusive deal option.
Free; exclusive deal 50/50 on Poki-driven players, 100% on direct
y8.com
Non-exclusive portal paying 50% of eligible in-game ad revenue; rejects reskins and mass-generated games.
Free; 50% ad share, $100 PayPal minimum
newgrounds.com
A long-running community portal where users vote on new uploads.
coolmathgames.com
Buys non-exclusive licences for HTML5 'thinking' games with no violence or ads.
Free to submit; Coolmath pays for the licence
playgama.com
Distribution through the Bridge SDK with a tiered revenue share that rises with earnings.
Free; 70% to 90% tiered share
gamedistribution.com
Syndicates HTML5 games across many partner sites.
Free; €50 payout threshold; split not published
reddit.com
A community for playable browser games; link straight to the game with its name first.
05 · SEARCH DEMAND
Primary search
how to publish html5 games
Below the provider’s reporting threshold: real demand, too small to report.
DataForSEO Google Ads, US/en, Oct 2026: primary keyword below reporting threshold. Related: 'html5 games' 6,600/mo, 'crazygames developers' 140/mo.
Learning: answer with guides
Comparing: show why you
Ready to act: make it easy
Learning: answer with guides
06 · AVOID
Poki's exclusive deal rules out other web portals and aggregators, and it counts Discord and YouTube Playables as web. Once the game is spread across sites, that option is gone.
Portals cap initial downloads and time-to-gameplay because players leave fast. A build that misses CrazyGames' or Poki's targets fails QA or loses players during the test.
Y8 prohibits external links and other ad systems in games, and Poki blocks external requests. Strip them before submitting.
Y8 rejects reskins and mass-generated games, and CrazyGames' quality guidelines reject generic names. Portals have more games than slots; original work is what gets promoted.
New games go through Judgment voting, and since December 2024 a game is removed if its score falls below set thresholds as votes come in (according to the community wiki). Polish first.
07 · WHAT OUTPOST DOES
Lays out the exclusive versus non-exclusive decision for your game with each portal's terms side by side, before anything is uploaded
Checks your build against each portal's size, file-count, load-time and SDK requirements and lists what to change
Prepares submissions for CrazyGames, Poki, Y8, Coolmath, Armor Games and the distributors that fit, for you to upload, with a receipt per submission
Plans jam entries and drafts r/WebGames posts that follow each community's rules, for you to post, to get early players and feedback
Counts the clicks from each portal listing and reads the plays you share, so you can see which ones earn and where to focus updates
Every action Outpost takes gets a receipt: the live URL, a timestamp and what it drove, or “nothing yet”.See how receipts work
08 · QUESTIONS
It depends on the game. Poki's exclusive route splits revenue 50/50 on players it brings and gives you 100% of players who arrive directly, but rules out other web portals for the term (five years by default, with terms set per agreement). Steam, app stores and consoles stay yours. A non-exclusive spread across several portals is the alternative.
New games start in Basic Launch, shown to a limited audience for 7 to 21 days without monetization, and need at least 500 plays. Games that perform go to Full Launch, which requires the full SDK and QA.
Usually not inside the game. Y8 asks for social links on the studio page instead, and Poki routes links through its SDK. Check each portal's rules.
It varies too much for a useful average, and several portals do not publish their split. What is published: Y8 pays 50% of eligible ad revenue, Playgama's share rises from 70% to 90% with earnings, and Coolmath buys licences outright.
Yes, as a way to test a spin-off mechanic or build a following among players who browse jam entries. They are not a substitute for portal distribution.
Outpost prepares listings and applications for you to submit, and gives you a receipt for each. SDK integration and build changes stay with your team, because they are code changes to your game.
10 · EVIDENCE
Every fact on this page comes from one of these sources.
Basic Launch for 7-21 days and at least 500 plays, monetization disabled, Full Launch requirements (registry)
250MB and 1,500 files, initial download 50MB, 20 seconds to gameplay (registry)
Hand-picked games; 50/50 on Poki-driven players and 100% direct (registry)
Exclusive vs non-exclusive deals, five-year default, Discord and YouTube Playables count as web (registry)
50% of eligible ad revenue, no external links, reskins rejected (registry)
Non-exclusive licence purchase for HTML5 thinking games (registry)
Email submission and negotiated compensation (registry)
Tiered revenue share 70% to 90% (registry)
€50 payout threshold and monthly payouts (registry)
Judgment voting thresholds since December 2024 (registry, third-party)
Early access with an interest form (registry)
Last reviewed . Search volume: DataForSEO Google Ads, US/en, Oct 2026: primary keyword below reporting threshold. Related: 'html5 games' 6,600/mo, 'crazygames developers' 140/mo.
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