Where to Find HTML5 Games for Your Website: Sources Compared and a Vetting Checklist

If you run a website and want to add browser games, the first question is where the games come from. You can build them, buy them, license them from developers, take them from a distribution catalog or use open-source ones. Each route has a different cost, risk and amount of work. This guide compares them and gives you a checklist for vetting any game before it goes on your site.

1. Embed from a distribution catalog

Some portals publish games that site owners can embed with an iframe. The game stays hosted by the portal, so you do not store files, and fixes and updates reach your site automatically. PlayKovo works this way: the free catalog gives you a ready-made iframe snippet per game, and there is a JSON and XML feed if you want to build your own listing or import games into a CMS. No API key is needed, and you do not have to register to embed.

Good for: blogs, content sites and new portals that want games quickly. Watch for: you depend on the host staying online, and your design is limited to the player they provide.

2. Host files from developers you contact directly

Many independent developers will license a game for your site if you ask politely and explain where it will appear. You then host the build yourself, which gives you full control over layout, speed and uptime. It also makes you responsible for hosting costs and for updating the game if it breaks. Get the permission in writing, with the scope clear: which domains, for how long, whether ads on your page are allowed.

Good for: a small, curated selection. Watch for: it takes time to negotiate each game, so it does not scale to hundreds.

3. Open-source and public-domain games

Some games are published under licenses such as MIT or CC0 that let you use and modify them. Read the license file itself. MIT requires you to keep the copyright notice; CC0 asks for nothing; licenses with an attribution requirement need a visible credit. Also check the art, music and fonts separately, because a game's code may be open while its assets are not.

Good for: tinkerers who want to modify or rebrand a game. Watch for: quality varies a lot, and many open-source games have no mobile controls.

1. Who owns it, and can you show it? Keep an email, a license file or a terms page for each game. If a developer's permission cannot be traced, assume you do not have it. The post on tracking licensing permissions for browser games covers how to organise this.
2. Does it run on your visitors' devices? Test on a real phone and on desktop. Check the orientation, because a portrait game forced into a wide box looks broken.
3. Does it load fast? A game that takes 30 seconds on mobile data will lose most visitors before they play. Heavy builds also slow the rest of your page.
4. Does it behave? Look for surprise pop-ups, redirects, forced sign-ups, fake download buttons or links to unrelated sites. Close the game and see whether it tries to open anything.
5. Is the content right for your audience? A violent shooter on a kids' site, or a game with gambling-style mechanics, creates problems no matter how good the game is.
6. What happens when it breaks? Hosted embeds are fixed by the host. Self-hosted games are your job, so plan to detect broken games automatically.

Fewer than you think. Twenty well-chosen games, with a proper description, controls and screenshots for each, usually serve a new site better than hundreds of bare listings. See how to choose the first 20 games for a new gaming website.

Embedding PlayKovo games is free, but revenue share is not active today. It is planned, and the partner page says so plainly. Do not build a business plan around income from embedded games until a program actually exists in writing. Your own ads on your own pages are a separate matter and depend on the terms of your ad provider.

If you want launch statistics for your domain, you can register your website. It is optional and not required to embed.