Report: 53% plan to port mobile games to browser in next 12 months

• The 2026 State of Web Gaming report found 53% of developers see web games as a method to reach new users.
• Among web gamers, 27% spend over $50 on game purchases every month.

Web games are reportedly countering discoverability challenges in the modern games landscape, with 53% of developers now seeing the format as a method to reach new users.

According to The 2026 State of Web Gaming report, commissioned by web games platform Poki 53% of companies also plan to port their mobile games to browser in the next 12 months, compared to 41% of PC and console games.

Independent MRS-certified research firm Atomik Research surveyed 2,000 web gamers and 400 game developers across the UK and the US to gather data for the report, with fieldwork completed in May 2026.

Among its findings, 62% of web gamers were said to have downloaded or bought a game after first playing it on the web. This figure rose to 72% among the most frequent players.

A total 37% of them play web games multiple times daily, while 92% describe HTML5 games as being high in quality. Almost two-thirds of them also own a games console, most prominently PlayStation hardware.

Android vs Apple

The report claimed that 58% of web gamers play browser games because they are free, wjo;e 56% favour the format for its accessibility. They aren’t all free-to-play users, however - 27% of web gamers reportedly spend over $50 on game purchases every month.

Android owners were found more likely to spend up to $10 in games than iOS owners. They were also more likely to spend between $101 and $200. On the other hand, iOS owners were found more likely to spend between $11 and $100, as well as $201 or more.

The report concluded that today, web games are where players "decide what to play next".

PocketGamer.biz asked Poki COO Stein Janssen why more game makers are looking to port to browser, and he suggested technology is a factor, "but it’s not as simple as porting being easier".

"More pertinent is the fact that improvements in browser tech mean the mobile web can provide a gaming experience that matches what is available in native apps. That’s obviously with the added benefit of instant play and no downloads, meaning web gaming perfectly matches modern media habits which demand low friction," he said.

"In a mature mobile market where launching new games is so uncertain, midsize and large publishers are looking for new pockets of growth for established titles. The increasing ease of porting from Unity is part of this, but the size and scale of the audience on web is the defining factor."

Janssen suggested cross-platform development has changed from an expensive luxury into something that’s "often a baseline strategy", with engines making deployment simpler. At the same time, he argued a walled-garden approach on traditional app stores is "choking" discoverability.

Meanwhile, the report showed more than a quarter of web gamers are increasing their playtime even relative to social media usage, indicating players are choosing to play actively rather than spending time passively scrolling. With social media bans for young people in Australia and upcoming for the UK, this shift could further increase.

"Social media and web games are competing for finite attention. If social media is banned for young people, that attention will go elsewhere. Web gaming is likely to be one of a number of beneficiaries of that, but a direct correlation is as yet unclear, especially as our survey sample relates to 18+ web gamers," said Janssen.

Find the full report here.