At GDC Europe, Google’s new game developer advocate Mark DeLoura and Chrome developer advocate Michael Mahemoff talked about Google’s app store and gaming within the Chrome browser. The Web store for Chrome is set to launch in October with a goal of making it simple to distribute, find, and monetize browser-based games.
The store itself works just like many other app store you’ve seen. You can browse/search through titles, check out user reviews and ratings, and buy the games via Google Checkout. One difference between an Apple App Store or the Android Market is that there is no approval process. More interesting is the fact that Google isn’t looking to monetize this app store by taking a cut of the sales. They simply charge a 5% processing fee. Usually, developers only take home about 30% of their app sales.
This is a very interesting change, because it means that developers now have a strong incentive to develop and promote the Web versions of their applications over their native counterparts. Google may make less money from this in the short term, but if it helps the Web win out over native apps then it’s a decision that will pay off for Google in a big way. — TechCrunch
Leveraging the speed of the Google Chrome Web browser, they demoed some pretty interesting games. Not really because of the games themselves, but because of how they highlighted what’s possible inside of a Web browser these days. Google’s Pac-Man stunt is just the tip of the iceberg. Quake 2 ported to HTML5 is truly amazing to think about if you’ve been on the Web for a while. It has really come a long way.
One side-effect of Google’s push into games and the development of an app store for the Web could be a push for more general HTML5 applications. As it stands, developers have to choose which platform to develop for. Android and iPhone dominate the market, but which do you invest in? On the same note, the initial investment for an HTML5 app is around zero and the learning curve is minimal.
Instead of trying to develop for a specific platform, developers could choose to create a compelling HTML5 web application. This would cover all the bases and exempt you from having to deal with startup costs and approval processes. If you can do Quake 2 in HTML5, the possibilities for a simple Web application are endless.
Wired says the Web is dead, but the browser remains the one common denominator. It exists in one form or fashion on every computer and mobile device out there. The app store market is booming, but when it’s no longer shiny and new, we may see developers turning back to the Web for fun and profit. Google’s app store could aid in that transition.
via 1up