A new platform can do far worse than to pick up a publisher the size of Electronic Arts as an advocate.

However, the company's decision to put its weight behind Google's Chrome Web Store – officially unveiled at a press event earlier this week – not only makes its titles key to the marketplace's longterm success, but also makes EA a major player in HTML5 development.

Vocal victory

Even better, as far as those behind the language are concerned, is EA's willingness to talk up HTML5 as a games development tool.
Poppit! - the first EA game to hit the Chrome Web Store via the Google Web Toolkit – took less than 48 hours to convert to HTML5 according EA COO John Schappert.

"Poppit! has never run faster and never looked better," he said of the new version.

"With Google's Web Toolkit, we can supercharge classics like Poppit! into state-of-the-art HTML5 games for this new gaming platform."

Games galore

Four other games - FIFA Superstars, Lords of Ultima, Mirror's Edge 2D, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online – have also made the leap to the Chrome Web Store, with Poppit! set to be used as something of a poster child, pre-installed on version 9 of the Chrome browser.

"The web has become an incredibly powerful platform for innovation, allowing users to do much more online than they ever imagined," added Google VP of product management for Chrome Sundar Pichai.

"The Chrome Web Store showcases the power of the open web and we're excited to have several gaming titles from EA as a part of it."

Trend setting

EA's vocal stance on HTML5 comes as the industry as a whole appears to be warming to the standard.

SPIL Games CEO and co-founder Peter Driessen has suggested the development of HTML5 will soon mean web apps on mobiles are as enticing a prospect to consumers as standard apps.

The ease of developing cross-platform using HTML5 will also mean its take up with studios will soar.

"Thanks to HTML5's open standard, developers only have to develop a game once, and it can be easily deployed on all devices with browsers supporting HTML5, such as PCs, iPads, iPhones and Google phones," Driessen told us.

"We see a lot of enthusiasm from the developer community around HTML5."