HTML5

An HTML5 game is a web application. The studio writes the game logic and rendering in JavaScript (usually through an engine such as Pixi or Phaser), draws to the canvas or WebGL, and packages assets so they stream to the player on demand. The same build runs on a desktop browser, an Android phone and an iPhone, adapting layout and controls to the screen. The game talks to the studio's remote game server for every outcome, so the maths and the RNG never leave the server.

Flash needed a browser plug-in that Apple never shipped on iOS. From 2007, as smartphones took over, every Flash game was invisible to a growing share of players. Studios began rebuilding portfolios in HTML5 from around 2012, aggregators added HTML5 delivery, and by the time Adobe ended Flash support at the end of 2020 the migration was complete. The games that were never rebuilt disappeared from lobbies.

For operators, HTML5 is what made the mobile-first casino possible: one lobby, one integration, every device. It also removed the download-and-install casino client, shortening the path from registration to first bet. Performance still varies — asset size, first-load time and frame rate on low-end phones are real differentiators between studios.

For suppliers, HTML5 lowered the barrier to entry. A small studio can ship a game with web skills alone, which is one reason the number of studios grew so fast in the 2010s. It also made aggregation simpler, since every game exposes the same launch and wallet pattern. Certification labs test the HTML5 build together with the server logic in each jurisdiction.

A studio with a 60-title Flash portfolio in 2014 finds that a third of its sessions now come from phones that cannot run any of them. It rebuilds the 15 best-performing titles in HTML5 over a year, retires the rest, and ships each new game mobile-first with a desktop layout as a variant. By 2017 mobile is two-thirds of its turnover and the studio's HTML5 framework is the basis of every release since.

• RNG (Random Number Generator) — stays on the server no matter how the game is rendered.
• Aggregator — delivers HTML5 games to operators through one integration.
• Microgaming — one of the first software houses, from the download-client era to HTML5.
• Live Dealer — video streaming that HTML5 players made possible on mobile.

Compare studios in the Game Development category and development partners in the Software Development category.