Wavedash

What do they actually do

Wavedash is a web gaming platform that lets people launch full games directly in a browser with no downloads or installation. It runs the game on the player’s device using modern web tech (not cloud streaming) and aims for near‑native performance, with instant multiplayer sessions that can be shared via a link and playable across desktops, phones, tablets, VR headsets, and some smart TVs (site).

For studios, Wavedash provides SDKs/APIs, free hosting and an asset CDN, built‑in services like matchmaking and cloud saves, player analytics, and a marketplace that takes a 10% fee. The team is actively partnering with developers and offers help porting games to the web; the product is currently waitlisted for players and recruiting studio partners (site; YC profile).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Gamers who won’t wait for big installs: They abandon sessions when downloads/patches take too long and want new titles to start instantly on whatever device they have (site).
• Players on devices with limited storage or restrictive app stores: They avoid installing large clients or can’t pass store gates, so they need games to run in the browser without consuming storage or requiring approvals (site).
• Indie and mid‑sized studios seeking better distribution economics: They struggle with high store fees and poor discovery; they want lower fees, hosting/CDN, and analytics to reach more players and keep more revenue (site—10% fee, hosting, analytics).
• Small developer teams with limited engineering bandwidth: They can’t justify building and maintaining custom web ports; they want a partner to handle the porting and integration so they can ship quickly (YC—“we will port your game”).
• Streamers and social players who need fast, shareable multiplayer: They lose viewers and friends to setup friction; they want sessions that start in seconds and can be joined via a simple link (site).

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Cold‑outreach targeted indie and mid‑size studios and offer a free port plus free hosting to get a flagship title live quickly; use the 10% fee and dev tooling to make the business case, and lean on YC/founder network to secure early partners (site; YC profile).
• First 50: Run short, engine‑oriented onboarding sprints and pay to port a few anchor titles as case studies; recruit via engine forums, game‑dev Discords, and referrals, then publish concrete engagement/revenue results to attract peers (site).
• First 100: Drive player demand with instant‑play demos for creators/streamers (shareable session links, embeddable play), coordinate community launch pushes (e.g., Product Hunt), and expose developer analytics so studios see conversion/retention lift before scaling commitments (site; Product Hunt).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Global games revenue was about $182.7B in 2024, with PC roughly flat to modestly growing and console slightly down; Wavedash targets a slice of this content spend where instant, no‑install distribution can remove friction and expand reach (Newzoo Q2 2025 update).

Bottom-up calculation:

As an initial wedge, if Wavedash onboards ~2,000 indie/mid‑size titles that each gross ~$150k/year on the platform, that’s ~$300M GMV flowing through Wavedash and ~$30M in annual take‑rate revenue at a 10% fee.

Assumptions:

• Focus on indie/mid‑size PC/console‑style titles that are feasible to port to web in the near term.
• Average GMV per onboarded title of ~$150k/year (mix of premium/IAP).
• Wavedash maintains a 10% marketplace fee (site).

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Steam: The dominant PC game store and launcher with massive distribution and community features; typically takes a higher standard cut than 10%.
• Epic Games Store: PC storefront with a lower 12% fee and regular developer incentives; not browser‑native distribution.
• itch.io: Indie‑focused marketplace with flexible revenue share and simple distribution; discovery and scale are community‑driven.
• CrazyGames: Large HTML5/WebGL web‑games portal; focuses more on casual/instant web titles and ad‑based monetization than premium sales.
• Poki: Consumer web gaming platform for instant‑play titles; strong casual audience and ad‑driven economics rather than a 10% marketplace model.