Y8 for HTML5 developers: review, Y8 SDK, ads and payouts

Y8 is a browser game portal. Developers upload HTML5 and WebGL builds, Y8 reviews every game, and approved games earn a share of the in-game ad revenue. The developer FAQ accepts HTML5, WebGL, Unity WebGL and other JavaScript-based formats, from independent developers, teams, studios and publishers who own the rights to the game. It suits developers who want a non-exclusive portal with a published revenue share and are willing to integrate one more SDK.

How submission and review work

Every game belongs to a studio. A solo developer can be a studio, and you do not need a registered company. The studio profile asks for a logo (175 x 175 px recommended), a name and a short About text. You then create the game in the Developer Portal, upload the build, complete the SDK steps and send it for review.

Y8 reviews every game before publishing. The review covers loading, performance, browser and screen compatibility, gameplay, controls, instructions, SDK and ad integration, content and policy. Feedback appears in a per-game Feedback tab in the portal, where you can also ask questions.

Repeat submissions have cooldowns: none for the first, then 6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, 2 days, and 5 days for later submissions. You can upload and test during the wait but cannot resubmit until it ends. Studios with more than 10 million plays have no cooldowns. Updates to a live game are reviewed before they replace the current build. Y8 says a game is not removed for low performance, and you can ask for removal at any time.

Technical requirements

Y8 publishes no build size, file count or per-file limit. The FAQ, the docs site and the terms do not state any. The game must work in supported browsers and on the devices you pick during submission.

SDK. The FAQ makes the SDK mandatory: you must complete the SDK requirements the portal shows for your game. The platforms page says to load it from Y8’s CDN and never bundle a copy. The SDK introduction initialises it once, after the y8sdk.ready event, with a fallback for when the script loaded before your listener:

<script src="https://cdn.y8.com/minimal-sdk/2-0/y8.min.js" async></script>
<script>
  let y8Sdk;
  window.addEventListener("y8sdk.ready", () => {
    y8Sdk = y8.sdk();
    y8Sdk.init(
      { appId: "<app id>", autoLogin: true },
      { gameId: "<game id>", preloadAdBreaks: "on", sound: "on" } // omit if no ads
    );
  }, { once: true });
  if (window.y8 && window.y8.emitReadyEvent) window.y8.emitReadyEvent();
</script>

The App ID is always required; the Game ID only when the game shows ads. Both are on the game’s SDK Initialization tab.

Ads. The advertising doc uses showAd, not adBreak, although the placement object looks like Google’s (type, name, beforeAd, afterAd, adBreakDone). Pause and mute in beforeAd and resume in afterAd; skipped or frequency-capped breaks fire neither. Never request a preroll: Y8 runs it itself. Interstitials are paced at roughly one per 180 seconds by default, configurable per game; rewarded ads are not capped. In-game banners need per-game approval from Y8 and SDK 2.13.0 or later, in fixed sizes: 728x90, 300x250, 320x50, 468x60 and 320x100.

Engines. Wrappers exist for Unity, Construct 3 and Haxe. Unity WebGL builds (Unity 2020 or newer) should use the Y8_Responsive WebGL template so the canvas fills the window; Unity’s stock templates render at a fixed size.

Testing. Serve the build over HTTP; the SDK does not work from file:// (local development). Sign-in from localhost needs no setup, but other development addresses must be registered in the portal. Ads shown while the game is in review are Google test creatives.

Content rules. No links inside the game to other websites, app stores, social media, payment or promotional pages; social links go on the studio page. No own or third-party ads, ad scripts, pop-ups or redirects. Bots, fake traffic and encouraged ad clicks are banned.

Monetization and payouts

Per the FAQ, developers receive 50% of eligible advertising revenue from in-game ads. There are two routes:

• Y8 Managed Partnership (YMP). Available once a game is approved. Y8 runs the ads and pays you. The minimum payment is $100 via PayPal or $500 via bank transfer; lower balances carry forward. You need a valid invoice, and Y8 normally pays within 10 business days of accepting it.
• AdSense for Platforms (AFP). Only for developers Y8 deems eligible; you connect a Google AdSense account through Y8 and Google pays you directly. Eligibility may depend on game quality, originality, studio history, traffic quality and policy compliance, and Y8 does not disclose its scoring.

Games can be published without ads, but only SDK ads earn money. The FAQ makes you responsible for checking that ads still work after release, via the Revenue Report.

Exclusivity and rights

Y8 is not exclusive. The FAQ accepts games already published elsewhere and lets you keep publishing on other platforms. The site terms, last modified July 2022, grant Y8 a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free licence to submitted content unless a separate exclusive agreement is signed. The same terms describe uploads as non-commercial and say a file might not be posted without the Y8 logo and/or intro. The developer portal, by contrast, publishes a revenue share and no logo specification. Ask Y8 if either clause matters for your game.

AI-generated content

The FAQ allows AI tools if you hold the required rights and the final game meets Y8’s quality and content rules. Y8 may reject copied, misleading, low-quality, repeatedly reskinned or mass-generated games. Purchased templates and assets are allowed only with meaningful original work. No AI disclosure or labelling requirement is published.

Before you submit

• Studio created; App ID (and Game ID if you show ads) in the init call.
• SDK loaded from cdn.y8.com, initialised once after y8sdk.ready, with the emitReadyEvent() fallback.
• showAd placements pause and mute the game; no preroll requests; no other ad code.
• No external links in the game.
• Tested over HTTP, not file://.
• Guests can play without signing in, and auto-saves are throttled to at most once a minute (best practices).

The Portal Readiness Checker can check some of this locally: ZIP structure, total size and file count, whether the Y8 SDK calls are present, external URLs, service workers, SharedArrayBuffer/threads, the viewport meta tag, touch handlers, audio started before a gesture, and localStorage use. It cannot judge review criteria such as gameplay quality or originality.

What is not published

• Any build size, file count, per-file or load-time limit.
• Thumbnail, screenshot and description requirements (only inside the logged-in portal).
• How long a first review takes.
• Payout thresholds under AFP: Google pays directly, and the Y8 page does not state thresholds.
• A current logo or intro specification, despite the clause in the 2022 terms.