This is really depressing to look at in 2026! The internet really was a mistake.

I'd say the shift to mobile went through a similar arc into decline as the web, actually.

Newgrounds really was the golden age for web gaming. And, similar to early web, early mobile gaming also started out with nostalgia-worthy charm and heart. You're right that it's been hollowed out, but the same thing happened to web gaming after the Flash era. The social casino era is maybe its 6th reinvention, and its lowest yet.

Now that mobile gaming has been raced to the bottom and consolidated (and thanks to the dual tailwinds of AI making it easy to write code without engines and the web maturing in its 3d+networking capabilities) we're started to see a resurgence of web-based games - it's my full-time job now! Granted we still do rely on mobile apps (as web wrappers) for monetization, but that wall is crumbling rapidly.

I would argue the height of light gaming was the height of Kongregate, which was a little past newgrounds' own.

The games were more polished by the time, but still quite wild.

That seems a reach to say the popularity of kalshi and polymarket is down to gambling simulators.

Id wager (heh) that it's much more down to a lack of regulation combined with the normalisation of influencer driven get rich quick but pretend it's clever investing that exploded in popularity with crypto and wallstreetbets style influencer investing. Combine that with house prices being where they are and people get risky with investing as their hope outstrips their caution.

I don't think a few rounds of balatro or slotomania leads to that.

The crazy thing is there was a period between Newgrounds games and mobile games: Facebook games. It was so popular at that moment and so insignificant hindsight that we barely remember it.

that's quite a reach. much more obviously, the shift to mobile games has resulted in predatory pay2win "micro"transactions and ads everywhere. the last time I'd tried to find something new to play on the shitter, seemingly every random game I got from the playstore wanted an AAA's worth of $ to unlock features and/or was full of ads. and they weren't even those coomer bait gachas everyone with half a brain knows to avoid.

i dont think its the sites. people always blame the sites. but people became lazy and hungry for dopamine. they arent creating cool stuff anymore but almost get upset or withdrawl if someone else dont shove something 'new and exciting' down their throats

internet is not the only thin that suffers it. TV, music, its the same. Listen to what kids played music ,movies, toys etc. in 60, 70, 80, 90s up to today. you will see very sharp changes, first in how they occupy themselves and then in how they shape society -_- for their kids to go into the next dumbing down cycle.

(yes v cynical and black n white put. easier to word)

Gambling aside, the median quality of a modern mobile game is worse than what we had on newgrounds.

NG didn't have multiple 500MB downloads, buttons in the wrong place, pointless currencies. More importantly NG artists actually cared. I understand why Apple killed Flash, but what we got in its place is not better.

> AI generated games

I really wish that will never happen. For now it produces crappy clones of existing games

It peaked and went on a decline in the period before companies were snatching up sites just to merge their user bases.

Had newgrounds continued into the 2010's, it would've been bought by Google to boost Google Wave / Circles / Plus whatever, and then it would've been actually shutdown.

So its age is actually what helped it survive I suspect.