Poki for developers: testing funnel, SDK rules, exclusivity and AI

Poki is a curated web game platform. You upload a build to Poki for Developers, test it with real players for free, and if Poki picks it, sign a publishing agreement before a staged release. Poki says it hand-picks every game and limits daily releases. It suits developers ready to build web-first for mobile and desktop and to give Poki web exclusivity. Everything here comes from the Poki for Developers guide and the developer Terms dated 2024-03-13, read on 2026-09-30.

How submission and review work

Poki describes five steps:

1. Add your game. Upload a build or prototype; it need not be finished. Each new version passes a content moderation check before testing.
2. Playtesting. Each playtest returns 10 recordings of real players, as many times as you like.
3. Player fit test. 500 players, about 5 hours, measuring playtime only. It needs a thumbnail. The stated healthy result is 3+ minutes average playtime with 25%+ of plays over 3 minutes; up to 2 tests per day.
4. Web fit test. The game appears on real category pages for about 7 days, measured on click-through, time on page and conversion to play.
5. Final review. Poki judges results, quality, originality and category fit; the decision takes 1 to 2 weeks. A rejection means the game cannot be published on Poki.

Poki suggests aiming for 65%+ conversion to play and 5+ minutes average playtime (10+ for management and simulation games). Tests are free and repeatable.

After a pass, the release process runs: agreement, QA against the requirements (with a QA report if something fails), soft release on category pages for about 2 to 3 weeks, then global release with a roughly two-week new-game push. Soft release cannot be skipped. Poki puts the whole path from agreement to global release at roughly 2 to 3 months. The developer Terms only cover this testing phase: uploading gives no right to tests or placement, and publishing needs a separate agreement (sections 1.5 and 4.2).

Technical requirements

The SDK setup from the HTML5 guide:

<script src="https://game-cdn.poki.com/scripts/v2/poki-sdk.js"></script>

PokiSDK.init()
  .catch(() => {}) // the guide says to load the game anyway
  .then(() => {
    loadGame().then(() => {
      PokiSDK.gameLoadingFinished();
      // wait for the player's first input, then:
      // PokiSDK.gameplayStart();
    });
  });

function onLevelEnd() {
  PokiSDK.gameplayStop();
  muteAudio(); disableInput();
  PokiSDK.commercialBreak().then(() => {
    unmuteAudio(); enableInput();
    PokiSDK.gameplayStart();
  });
}

SDK events are required for web fit testing and every release. QA checks that no event fires twice in a row, that gameplayStart() waits for the first input rather than page load, that gameplayStop() fires on every interruption, that no events fire during ads, and that commercialBreak() only runs when the player heads back into gameplay. Not every commercialBreak() shows an ad; Poki decides (SDK overview).

The hard requirements:

• Desktop, mobile and tablet support; on mobile, fill the screen in portrait, landscape or both; force mobile controls on tablets.
• 16:9, scaling to 640×360, 836×470 or 1031×580.
• Playable in incognito mode, so wrap localStorage in try/catch.
• No external requests. Poki blocks them through the game’s Content Security Policy. Bundle fonts, images, audio and libraries; Google Fonts and CDN-hosted libraries are out. Multiplayer servers, analytics (never Google’s) and leaderboards can be requested under Settings → CSP (external resources policy).
• No branding or external ads; a studio logo on the loading screen is fine.
• Playable with an ad blocker, with no ad-block messaging.

More rules: open external links through PokiSDK.openExternalLink(), stop arrow keys, space and the wheel from scrolling the page (prevent page jump), no chat and no email, Google or Facebook login. Cloud saves via Poki accounts are capped at 1 MB after gzip.

Size: no hard cap is published. The requirements ask for a small build, noting players tend to leave after 10 seconds of loading. Poki’s engine guide says a good web game’s initial download should not exceed 5 MB, and 8 MB in total. Upload is through Poki for Developers or the poki-cli tool; the Inspector takes a game folder with an index.html. For Unity, the upload system rewrites index.html, so custom HTML goes inside poki include comments.

Monetization and payouts

Ads through the Poki SDK are the only monetization: no in-app purchases, no third-party ad systems, no internal ad timers. Rewarded videos must be optional, carry a video icon, never be green, and sit next to a normal continue button.

On revenue, Poki states you get 100% of revenue from players who reach your game directly (search, bookmarks, social, your community) and a 50/50 split for players Poki brings. The deal types page calls these specifics indicative, with real terms set per game in the agreement. Games already live on other web platforms can get a one-time flat licence fee instead, with no revenue share.

Payouts go by wire transfer or PayPal in your preferred currency. Billing details lock during each payment cycle. No minimum amount or payment schedule is published.

Exclusivity and rights

Poki’s standard deal is web-exclusive: no other web portals or aggregators, and Discord and YouTube Playables count as web. Steam, mobile app stores and consoles stay yours. The default term is 5 years, again described as indicative. Under the Terms you must not have granted exclusive rights in the game to anyone else, and you confirm you hold rights to all its content.

AI-generated content

Poki has written guidance on working with AI. AI tools are welcome while prototyping, but before a player or web fit test the game should show your own perspective and real improvements beyond the tooling. Before submitting: no AI watermarks or prompt text, all generated content playtested, visuals consistent. Poki notes that games made solely with AI can raise IP ownership questions, so keep a record of tools, prompts and iterations to show on request. AI art does not make a clone original. Credit is expected where a tool’s terms require it.

Poki’s page on interpreting test results adds a reason a game can be declined in the final review: originality and craft. It says using AI and other tools to speed up development is fine, but games that feel heavily tool-assisted or rapidly assembled are declined, and that downloaded templates and repackaged APKs do not count as original work.

Before you submit

• SDK script in <head>; init(), gameLoadingFinished(), gameplayStart() on first input, gameplayStop() on every interruption.
• Audio muted and input disabled during commercialBreak() and rewardedBreak().
• No requests to other domains; fonts and libraries bundled.
• No other ad SDKs, purchase buttons, splash branding or raw outbound links.
• localStorage wrapped in try/catch; game playable with an ad blocker.
• 16:9 scaling tested at 640×360; touch controls on mobile and tablet.
• A 628×628+ text-free static thumbnail (spec); plan a 1080×1080 animated thumbnail for soft release (video spec).
• The build checked in the Poki Inspector.

The Portal Readiness Checker can check some of these locally: zip structure, size and file count, presence of Poki SDK calls, external URLs, service workers, SharedArrayBuffer use, viewport meta, touch handlers, audio before a user gesture and localStorage use. It cannot check event order at runtime or content fit.

What is not published

• A hard size, file-count or per-file limit (only the 5 MB / 8 MB guidance).
• A payout minimum or payment schedule.
• The exact revenue share and term in your contract: the published figures are indicative.
• A zip or folder layout rule for HTML5 uploads.
• Rules on service workers or cross-origin isolation.