Sergei Chemodanov on the realities of scaling a multi-platform web game SDK

• Playgama Bridge is an open-source SDK designed to connect web game engines with multiple platforms.
• Bridge began as an independent project and scaled rapidly after joining Playgama.
• Open-sourcing the SDK accelerated adoption by building a collaborative developer community.

Although web games are growing, developers are facing challenges due to fragmentation. Multiple platforms and distribution channels can make it difficult to launch games efficiently. One option that has emerged is an open-source SDK called Playgama Bridge.

For Sergei Chemodanov, the man behind the SDK, its growth reflects both a market opportunity and a broader shift in developer expectations. “Before Playgama Bridge, there wasn’t a product on the web gaming market that could serve as the connective tissue between engines and platforms, so we built one. Given that it’s open-source and free, developers quickly recognised its value and the number of SDK users started to grow fast,” he says.

The growth of Bridge coincides with a changing mindset among developers, as teams increasingly seek flexibility rather than being tied to a single store. Mobile and PC developers are exploring the web as a channel to reach new audiences more quickly. Chemodanov sees this shift as a key driver of adoption.

“Developers want flexibility. We’re seeing more and more mobile and even PC game developers realising the potential of the web market. They want to test and launch their games in browsers quickly and reach new audiences without spending months building their own unified SDK.”

Independent project to open source

Bridge began as Chemodanov’s independent project, which he says limited both reach and speed of development. He explains that development started to “move forward like a rocket” after joining Playgama, as it provided access to a larger team, better infrastructure, and clearer priorities.

Open-sourcing the SDK further accelerated its growth, with Chemodanov framing the decision as both pragmatic and community-oriented. “I’ve used a lot of open-source solutions throughout my career, and I’m genuinely grateful to the developers behind them. Opening up the Bridge SDK was my way to give something back to the community,” says Chemodanov.

“Open-source projects tend to build strong, collaborative ecosystems, where people share ideas, report issues, and contribute improvements. That collective energy helps the project evolve much faster and stay aligned with real developer needs.”

While open-sourcing encourages collaboration, it also requires careful management to maintain quality and consistency.

Platform challenges

Despite the momentum, Playgama Bridge’s rapid expansion comes with its own hurdles. Integrating a growing roster of platforms, such as Huawei, Discord and YouTube, introduces a new level of complexity. 

Chemodanov shares that each time support for a new platform is added, a unique set of challenges arises. 

“Sometimes certain features don’t work as described, or behave differently from the documentation, and in some cases, there’s barely any proper documentation at all, so we have to explore the SDK manually,” Chemodanov says.

Maintaining a consistent, developer-friendly application programming interface across all platforms adds even further difficulty. “Balancing that complexity behind the scenes while keeping the experience smooth on the surface is one of the hardest but most rewarding parts of our work,” he notes.

These issues highlight a broader challenge in the web games market: integrating multiple diverse platforms at scale is difficult, and while tools like Bridge can simplify workflows, they do not eliminate fragmentation entirely.

Who is Bridge for? And looking ahead

Chemodanov explains that the SDK is broadly useful, but the advantages differ depending on studio size and resources. Indie developers, for example, benefit most from the time saved not having to build multi-platform tools from scratch, whereas mid-sized and larger studios mainly gain efficiency, cost savings and quicker releases. 

“Game developers and studios of any size can benefit. The main difference is simply how many resources each team would need to build and maintain their own solutions,” he explains. 

Chemodanov also tells us that he sees the line between web and mobile games continuing to blur. “Mobile developers are now looking for traffic for their games on the web and launching their own web shops, while web games are becoming almost indistinguishable from mobile ones in terms of functionality and user experience.” 

It’s possible, therefore, that tools like Bridge could become increasingly important for teams seeking cross-platform distribution without rebuilding for each format. However, adoption will depend on continued platform compatibility and support.

“We want Bridge to become the default infrastructure layer for publishing and monetising cross-platform games, the way developers naturally think about distribution,” he says. Plans include expanding compatibility with smaller platforms, deepening platform partnerships, and adding further automation to reduce developer workload.

Playgama’s Bridge SDK is also being used in web gaming through its recent partnership with Anzu, which brings intrinsic in-game advertising to web titles.