Frequently asked questions

No. Every game plays instantly in your browser with nothing to install. Sign in (we email you a link, no password) to like and save games, follow creators, keep your progress across devices, and make purchases.

Games that use PLAY cloud saves keep your progress on this browser. When you sign in, your saves, achievements and scores move to your account. Some games save only in your browser, so clearing site data or switching devices can lose that progress.

Just open a game. PLAY adds on-screen controls to games made for a keyboard, turns your finger into a mouse for mouse games (tap to click, drag to drag, long-press to right click), and fits games to your screen.

You can switch the touch controls on or off for any game from the player's More menu (⋯). Games that need a locked mouse pointer to look around are marked "Made for a computer".

Yes. Connect a controller and games that support one use it directly. Keyboard games are mapped onto it too: the stick and D-pad move, the face buttons press the game's action keys, Start is Enter and Back is Escape.

Use the pause button in the PLAY menu. PLAY pauses any game, keeping your progress, and games also pause when you switch tabs or apps. On phones the menu slides away while you play; tap the PLAY button to bring it back.

Tap the full-screen button in the player. On Android and computers the game fills the screen, and on Android games made for one shape turn the screen to fit. iPhones don't allow web pages to go truly full screen, so PLAY opens its full-screen play view; add PLAY to your Home Screen (Share, then Add to Home Screen) to hide Safari's bars too.

Swipe up or down around the game on a phone, or use the next and previous buttons in the PLAY menu. When you finish a game that tells PLAY it's over, PLAY offers the next one after a short countdown, and you can choose to keep playing instead. The exit button takes you back to where you started.

Browsers keep a game silent until you tap or press a key inside it, so tap the game once. Also check the mute button in the PLAY menu and your device's silent switch.

Try Restart in the More menu (⋯), or reload the page. If it still doesn't work, use Report in the More menu, or Report problem on the error screen, so the creator and PLAY can fix it.

Open the More menu (⋯) in the player and choose Report, then pick a reason. Reports are anonymous to the creator. See the content policy for what isn't allowed.

Every game runs in a sandbox on a separate domain, so it can't see your PLAY account, email or cookies, open pop-ups, or reach the internet. Games only get a game-specific player id and your display name. Purchases are always confirmed on PLAY's own screen, outside the game.

Recent games show under Continue playing on the home page. Signed in, History (in the top bar, or the ☰ menu on phones) lists everything you've played.

Games play in the browser, so there is nothing to install. If a game's creator allows remixes, signed-in players can download its files from the game page to change it and upload their own version (see remixing below).

No. Anyone can upload and play-test a game without an account; the draft stays private to your browser for 2 days. You sign in when you publish, and anyone can publish. No invite code is needed.

A ZIP, a folder or a single HTML file containing a web game: HTML5 and JavaScript, Phaser, Three.js, PixiJS, Babylon.js, PlayCanvas, Godot, Unity WebGL, GameMaker HTML5, Construct 3, Twine, RPG Maker and more.

PLAY finds the game inside build folders, and builds npm, Vite and Next.js projects and Godot 4 projects for you if you upload the source. Unity, GameMaker and Construct projects need their web export uploaded. Limits: 500 MB per upload, 2 GB unpacked, 10,000 files.

Usually the ZIP is the project rather than its web build, or it has more than one game page. Upload just the folder with your game's index.html in it (often dist, build or your engine's web export folder). The build report says what PLAY found and what to do.

The most common causes are absolute paths (/assets/x.png instead of ./assets/x.png), file names whose upper and lower case don't match, and files loaded from other websites, which games on PLAY can't reach. The build report lists missing files and blocked requests. See packaging and upload.

PLAY tests every upload in desktop and phone-sized browsers and shows you screenshots, errors and an Instant Play Score. Use Play test on the build page and scan its QR code to try it on your phone. The private play-test link works for 7 days, so you can send it to testers too.

PLAY adds touch controls to keyboard games, turns fingers into a mouse for mouse games, maps controllers, and fits fixed-size games to the screen. Games designed for touch play best, though. The best practices explain how, and include prompts you can give your AI tools.

Upload a new build from your game's page in the dashboard. Each build is tested before it goes live. Saves made with PLAY cloud saves carry over to the new version; saves in the browser's own storage don't.

Every game on PLAY gets window.PLAY automatically, with cloud saves, achievements, leaderboards, events, pause and mute, lobbies, and in-game products and tips. There's nothing to install. See the SDK docs.

Games can sell items and take tips through the PLAY SDK, set up on the game's Monetization page in your dashboard. PLAY takes a platform fee and pays creators their share after a short reserve period, subject to the payout minimum and identity checks. See the terms.

A remix is a new game made from someone else's, with credit to the original and its creator shown on the remix. You choose what others may do with your game: no remixes, remix privately, remix and publish (the default), or remix, publish and sell with a royalty to you.

Remix any remixable game from Create, or download its files and change them yourself. Downloads include a PLAY signature; keep it in the files and your upload is credited as a remix automatically.

Create can start you from a template or a remix for free. Making changes with AI costs PLAY Credits, and you see the price of each change. Every signed-in account gets $2 of starting credits. AI changes are rolling out gradually; until they reach your account you'll see "coming soon", and you can still remix, play-test and publish.

Yes. The best practices page has prompts you can copy into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or similar tools so they build games that run well on PLAY.

A title, description and category; the Orientation your game is made for; its Controls and whether it works on phones; a one-line Instructions field such as "Arrows: move · Space: jump" (shown before play, and used for phone controls); and the content questions that set its age rating.

You'll see the reason on Account standing in your dashboard, and you can appeal there.