How a Game Studio Kickstarted Its HTML5 Journey With Yandex Games
Yandex Games, our browser game platform, has been around for only a few years. In such a short time, some developers have managed not only to accrue a player base tallying millions but also expand globally.
We had the chance to talk with Nick, a Product Manager at a game company that has found great success in HTML5 and released some of the best titles on Yandex Games. Let’s jump right into OpenMyGame’s success story without beating around the bush!
Meet: OpenMyGame
OpenMyGame started with a team of just three hobbyists who developed games as a side gig. After a while, the team decided to focus on commercial projects entirely. The first game ever published by OpenMyGame was Draw and Guess Online, a Pictionary-like multiplayer game perfect for short sessions with friends.
Initially, OpenMyGame focused on the mobile market and would only release games on AppStore and Google Play. That was the era of Flash’s demise, and HTML5 was rapidly picking up pace. Once it became clear that web games had amazing potential, OpenMyGames decided to branch out into browser games.
Their first attempt at a web game was a port of the studio’s flagship title, Sea of Words — they launched it on Facebook, but the game didn’t succeed in getting organic traffic, and paid users were far away from payback level. Despite that, OpenMyGame gained experience and now had a game ready to be published elsewhere on the web. Fortunately, that was the time when Yandex Games was just starting out, and OpenMyGames decided to try out our platform. Unlike most HTML5 game platforms, Yandex Games handles the entire backend, ridding the developers of the need to upkeep their own servers for payments and user data.
At first, OpenMyGames published a barebones version of Sea of Words on Yandex games just to test the waters. Soon enough, the game gained traction, reached a top-5 spot by popularity, and was awarded Editor’s Choice for its outstanding design and exciting gameplay. After seeing these excellent results, the team added monetization via in-game ads and in-app purchases to capitalize on the game’s success.
Over time, the studio developed a dozen of highly successful games for various platforms — predominantly word puzzles. Millions of OpenMyGame’s players come from all over the world: Russia and the CIS countries, the U.S., Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia. The developers believe proper localization is essential for any game’s international success; that doesn’t mean simply translating the game to a region’s language but also adapting push notifications and accounting for local holidays.
According to the developer’s analytics, most of the studio’s audience falls between 30 and 60 years old. It’s a very prominent niche that OpenMyGames strive to fill — there is a shortage of “smart casual” games on the market. While the team is interested in developing projects that target a younger audience down the line, it’s crucial to understand what types of games work best for young players. Correctly planning and drafting up a concept for an unfamiliar audience requires in-depth analytics to rule out any major risks.
What Does the Future Hold?
Short-term, OpenMyGame plans to release a nostalgic rebus puzzle game that aims to recreate the magic of old-timey magazines. The concept is simple yet challenging and perfectly aligns with the developer’s extensive experience in puzzle games.
Long-term, along with Sea of Words, Sudoku Master is another flagship title for the studio. These two games are the priority when it comes to developing new features, and the developer plans to support them for as long as there’s demand.
Apart from continued support for their biggest projects, OpenMyGame aspires to become a game publisher on Yandex Games. As a publisher, they would be helping new developers with cool ideas headstart their careers by integrating the Yandex Games SDK, configuring monetization, and handling the metrics on their behalf.
A Word of Advice
The OpenMyGame team has some guidance for new developers considering publishing their games on Yandex Games. It’s a very straightforward process: if your game can already run locally in a browser window, it only takes an hour or two to integrate the platform’s SDK. This is possible thanks to a user-friendly setup process and the fantastic developer’s guide. Engine-specific community guides can also be a great help.
When it comes to the nooks and crannies of game development, choosing an easy-to-operate yet feature-complete game engine is vital. In OpenMyGame’s experience, Defold is a perfect match for developers looking to create multi-platform games; this engine has a booming, friendly community who are always happy to help out a novice. That doesn’t mean that other engines don’t hold water — in fact, we discussed the best HTML5 game engines in one of our earlier posts.
Wrapping up, the moral of the story is that browser games should not be underestimated: it’s a booming industry and a perfect space to experiment with new ideas. Yandex Games will accompany you on your HTML5 journey: the platform runs ad campaigns for free and has recommendation algorithms that bring in huge volumes of organic traffic compared to AppStore and Google Play.
The world of HTML5 game development can be overwhelming, but we at Yandex Games do what we do best — make the industry more inviting for new developers and help established devs expand into a growing market. You don’t need much to get started with our platform: integrate our SDK, upload your game for a quick moderation check, and publish it for millions of players to enjoy. Add monetization via ads or in-game purchases, localize your game, and let us handle the remainder. With free targeted advertising and recommendation charts, we’ll ensure that your game finds the perfect audience! Check out our Developer’s Guide to kick off your very own game dev journey with Yandex Games.
