Disney looks beyond apps with HTML5 game maker Rocket Pack

Disney has acquired gaming startup Rocket Pack, a specialist in games which use HTML5, the latest version of the Web’s lingua franca. The deal signals a move in the game-development community towards HTML5 games, which can be played across almost every modern device and Web browser.

Games and other apps built specifically for Apples iOS devices or Android devices have to be rebuilt in order to work on other platforms, so HTML5’s portability makes it appealing to developers and game publishers alike. The move mirrors Disney’s larger corporate strategy as well, in which it seeks to distribute its content across as many platforms as possible.

Rocket Pack, based in Helsinki, Finland, will become a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company in the Disney Interactive Media Group. According to Fast Company, the price of the acquisition was between $10 million and $20 million.

The one-year-old startup just released the first HTML5 game based on its Rocket game engine for developers. The game, called Warimals, is about the everlasting battle between cats and dogs.

Rocket Pack promises its engine will be able to handle many kinds of social multiplayer features, including virtual currency to buy virtual goods. The engine works with Apple iOS devices, Android, and most major browsers on a PC or Mac.

Here’s a sample of Rocket Pack’s work: