Ludei, which offers an HTML5 platform for building games and other apps, is announcing today that it’s powering the games in Nickelodeon’s upcoming Android app.
Ludei CEO Eneko Knorr said that by focusing “on HTML5 technology for its game development,” Nickelodeon is making “a big vote of confidence for HTML5 and its ecosystem.” The kids’ entertainment channel is treating the new app as a “container” that will include dozens of HTML5 games, and it’s scheduled to launch on December 15.
“It’s clear that HTML5 is the right choice for cross platform game development, but development challenges require close attention in order to achieve optimal performance,” said Dhimiter Bozo, vice president of engineering for apps and games at Nickelodeon-owner Viacom, in the press release. “Ludei’s easy-to-use solution helps us address these challenges, and makes it easy for us to deliver excellent, native-like HTML5 game experiences.”
As for iOS, where Nickelodeon already offers an app, a company spokesperson said that these games would be included initially, but they added, “obviously” the goal in embracing HTML5 is “to enable across platforms.”
Ludei says there are now 20,000 developers, including three of the world’s top 20 game publishers, using its platform. It raised $1.5 million in funding earlier this year.
Update: The post has a new quote from Knorr about Nickelodeon — a company spokesperson emailed to say that it’s more accurate than Knorr’s earlier statement that Nickelodeon is “basing its entire game development strategy on HTML5.” Also, due to a mistake on my part, the initial version of this post included the wrong planned launch date and has since been corrected.