Online game distribution co. Heyzap launches HTML5 support

Online games platform company Heyzap is announcing today that its platform will support games that are written in HTML5, which is making a bid to be the lingua franca of the internet.

Until now, Heyzap has created an index and social games platform for more than 35,000 games that are written in Adobe’s Flash software. But Flash has its limitations and a new challenger in HTML5, which is being supported in a wide variety of devices from Apple’s iPhone to Google’s Android operating system.

Jude Gomilla, co-founder of San Francisco-based Heyzap, said the company wants to expand its reach to other platforms. Now, developers who use Heyzap’s platform can create HTML5 games that can run in places where Flash games can’t, such as Apple’s products and a variety of mobile phones.

“We see great potential for social games on HTML5,” Gomilla said. “The ecosystem is growing.”

Heyzap also supports Javascript with its platform. That means that games using Heyzap’s platform can work on just about any browser. Heyzap’s games are played on 270,000 web sites around the web. The company has raised more than $3 million, and its investors include Union Square Ventures, Y Combinator, and angel investors Naval Ravikant and Joshua Schacter. Heyzap has 14 employees. Rivals include Mochi Media.