SXSW 2012

The recent wave of social and mobile games has been a boon for the game industry by making games more accessible to new players. However, this has only intensified fragmentation, making it difficult for developers to deploy on many platforms. This then prevents players from enjoying their favorite games on any device, whether at home or on the road. Emerging technologies like HTML5 and WebGL provide the ideal solution to solve these problems with true cloud gaming in the browser. This talk will discuss the present and future advantages of HTML5 game development, why HTML5 is on course to become the prevalent medium for cross-platform game development, and the roadblocks that still remain before we reach this ultimate future over the next few years. The talk will also look at the emerging tools and engines that will put HTML5 games on par with other platforms. I will conclude by talking about the kinds of games to expect as well as multiplayer’s role in all of this.