How to Get Your Game on Poki (2026): The Real Requirements

How to Get Your Game on Poki (2026): The Real Requirements

Honesty note: I haven’t submitted to Poki — my game is in development against portal requirements (the CrazyGames path here). This guide is compiled from Poki’s official developer docs (sdk.poki.com) and 2026 public guides, so you know exactly what the deal looks like before you commit to their exclusivity model.

TL;DR

1. Poki’s deal is exclusivity for marketing, not a simple revenue split. Under the default Web Exclusive model, your game publishes only on Poki on the open web (including Discord and YouTube Playables) for 7 years — in exchange for deep promotion, premium ad/brand partnerships, and revenue: 100% on players you bring, 50/50 on players Poki brings (official docs).
2. The revenue split is traffic-based, not flat. Players who find your game via your own links/social/search = you keep 100%; players Poki refers from poki.com or their marketing = 50/50. There’s also a Non-Exclusive option (one-time license fee, no revenue share) if you prefer flexibility.
3. The SDK is mandatory and the events are graded. gameplayStart() fires on the player’s first input (never on load), gameplayStop() on leaving/ending — and events must not fire twice in succession. Poki runs “Web Fit” testing and a curation pipeline with real playtesting.
4. The bar is “polished, optimized casual” — ~100M MAU, hand-picked games, €100 minimum payout. Poki rejects more than it accepts; polish and retention metrics decide (how earnings actually look).

The deal, precisely (from official docs)

Two things most guides miss:

• Discord and YouTube Playables count as “web” for the exclusivity clause — if you plan to launch on those channels yourself, the Web Exclusive model covers them too.
• The 100% is real, not marketing — developers who drive their own players keep everything for those players. The model rewards games with existing audiences.

SDK requirements that actually get checked

Poki’s requirements are technical, and the Developer Support team checks them for every game:

1. Events fire correctly: gameplayStart() on the player’s first input — never on load; gameplayStop() on game end/leave; pause events during interstitials. Events must not fire twice in succession (a common fail).
2. Commercial break handling: commercialBreak() before interstitials; rewardedBreak() for rewarded ads. Loading progress must be reported via loadingFinished() at the right moment.
3. Web Fit: the game must pass responsive checks — fill the screen on phones in portrait/landscape, and tablets get the mobile control scheme, not the desktop one.
4. Ads: Poki’s system only. No third-party ad networks (AdMob etc.); rewarded videos should offer a skip after 5s per platform norms.

The SDK must be integrated before submission — Poki’s pipeline tests against it, and a missing or incorrect event = no Web Fit pass.

The submission pipeline (what to expect)

From official docs + 2026 public guides:

1. Create a Poki for Developers account and host/test your build there.
2. Integrate the Poki SDK correctly (events above) and pass Web Fit.
3. Submit for curation — Poki hand-picks games: multi-stage review judging quality, player fit, and technical soundness, with real playtesting.
4. If selected → distribution on poki.com with the agreed model; you get €100 minimum payout and real-time analytics in the developer dashboard.
5. Iterate — placement and promotion follow your retention metrics, same as any portal.

The poki-cli lets you upload builds from your terminal/CI (npx @poki/cli upload ...) — useful once you’re iterating regularly.

Is it worth the exclusivity?

The honest tradeoff:

• Worth it if: Poki is your primary portal bet, your game is polished enough to win curation, and you don’t need simultaneous Discord/Playables/other-portal launches (which the 7-year clause covers).
• Not worth it if: you want to multi-portal (CrazyGames + Poki + GameDistribution), or plan self-driven launches on YouTube Playables/Discord under Web Exclusive — the exclusivity covers those too. Then the Non-Exclusive license fee model fits better.
• Compare before committing: CrazyGames (60% ad share, no 7-year lock, checklist), GameDistribution (~33% but wide syndication, monetization guide). Poki’s 100%-on-your-traffic can beat both if you bring traffic; if you don’t, 50/50 on Poki traffic is still a solid deal — traffic is the asset (marketing guide).

Pitfalls

1. Committing to Web Exclusive without reading the clause scope — Discord/Playables are included in the 7 years.
2. Firing gameplayStart on load — it must fire on first input; this is a graded check.
3. Duplicate SDK events — “events should not fire twice in succession” is an explicit fail item.
4. Desktop-first control scheme on tablets — tablets must get the mobile scheme; responsive checks catch it.
5. Third-party ads in an iframe — Poki allows only its own ad system; external networks are rejected (same rule as CrazyGames).

Bottom line

Poki is the most curated and most generous-if-you-drive-traffic portal in 2026: 100% on your players, 50/50 on theirs, real playtesting, ~100M MAU — in exchange for 7-year web exclusivity under the default model. The path is: integrate the SDK correctly (events are graded), pass Web Fit, win curation with a polished game. Decide the exclusivity question before integrating — it’s a business decision, not a technical one, and it changes everything downstream (channel map).