In February 2020, Google announced GameSnacks, an experimental platform for developing and promoting HTML5 games. The company did this in order to test how much such an idea would appeal to residents of countries with poorly developed mobile communications (in which 2G and 3G networks are deployed over most of the territory). As practice has shown, such a solution is extremely interested in people, and now Google has decided to implement HTML5 games in its applications. At the first stage, they will earn for residents of India and some other countries. The company announced this in its official blog today, 23 February.
The evolution of web technologies has led to the fact that Flash games have sunk into oblivion, and have been replaced by HTML5 analogues. The advantage of such games is that they are usually small and can be loaded on any network, be it at least 2G on the outskirts of the city, at least intermittent communication in the metro. In addition, such games can be launched in a web browser on any device regardless of platform, and users do not need to install anything else – just click on the link and start playing.
The main problem with HTML5 games is that their distribution market is too fragmented. Developers have to carefully optimize their projects for whatever application they run in. Doing this is very problematic, and therefore Google decided to implement the GameSnacks platform in its applications – it is enough for developers to optimize games for it so that they work in programs from the “good corporation”.
On Chrome, the gamesnacks.com gaming platform is accessed through the Top Sites icon and the Games section, which displays to residents of India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Kenya on a blank new tab page.
The payment service Google Pay, which is remarkable, also has a section for games. From now on, residents of India can not only book trips and order food through this application. The games also became available on Google Discover.
But to play through Google Assistant, the user needs to ask the virtual assistant about it.
Google announced that GameSnacks will become a universal platform for HTML5 games, and the company will soon be implementing it in more of its applications. The developers also said that “they will soon start experimenting with Adsense ad formats in some games from the GameSnacks platform.”