Google recently surprised users with a beautiful interactive browser game titled “Rise of the Half Moon” as part of their Doodle series. The game features smooth animations, simple controls, and runs entirely within the browser, thanks to HTML5.
This sparked a question in my mind—can we still build and export similar HTML5 games using Unreal Engine (UE)? Especially now that lightweight, artistic, browser-playable games are growing in popularity again.
The Context
I’m a game dev and a big fan of Unreal Engine. I love its power, graphics quality, and flexibility. But when it comes to HTML5 export, I’ve seen mixed messages online:
- Some sources say HTML5 export was supported up to UE 4.23.
- Others mention it’s been deprecated from UE 4.24 onward.
- There’s also talk about community-maintained extensions, but I haven’t seen a stable pipeline for UE5.
So the real question is…
Can Unreal Engine Still Export to HTML5 Today?
From what I understand:
- Official HTML5 export is no longer supported in current versions of Unreal Engine.
- The feature was removed due to low usage and high maintenance cost.
- There are community forks and GitHub extensions trying to revive or maintain HTML5 export for UE, but they aren’t easy to set up or guarantee long-term compatibility.
This seems to make Unreal a less-than-ideal choice for creating games like Rise of the Half Moon, especially if the goal is a small, fast-loading, browser-first experience.