Types of gaming websites

There are five common types of gaming website: a clan or esports team site, a game blog or news site, a community or server hub, a landing page for your own game, and a browser-games portal. Decide which one you are making before you choose a tool, because the type sets the pages, the features and whether you need code.

The short version

• Team site and game landing page: few pages, mostly static. A hosted builder is enough.
• Blog or news site: easy to build, hard to keep fed. The work is the writing.
• Community hub: easy until you want live server data or accounts.
• Games portal: a software project. Plan for custom code and licensing.

The five types at a glance

Type	Main goal	Must-have pages	Needs custom code?
Clan or esports team	Recruit, show results, attract sponsors	Roster, matches, news, join, sponsors	No
Game blog or news	Be read and found in search	Articles, categories, author pages	No
Community or server hub	Get people into the server and keep them informed	How to join, rules, status, events	Only for live status and sign-in
Game landing page	Wishlists, sales, press coverage	One page, press kit	No
Browser-games portal	Let visitors play in the browser	Catalogue, play pages, categories	Yes

Clan or esports team site

What it is for. Showing who you are to recruits, opponents, tournament organisers and sponsors.

What it needs:

• A roster with a profile per player: handle, role, a photo or avatar, links to their channels.
• A match schedule and results. A table edited by hand is enough for most teams.
• News posts for signings, results and announcements.
• A “join” or “contact” page that says exactly what you are looking for.
• A sponsors section, if you have sponsors, with their logos used as they ask.

Feature examples. An embedded Twitch player for the team channel, a Discord widget showing who is online, a trophy list.

How to build it. A hosted builder. Nothing here needs code unless you want results pulled automatically from a tournament platform.

Game blog or news site

What it is for. Reviews, guides, patch breakdowns, opinion. Success depends on being found in search and being worth returning to.

What it needs:

• An article template with a clear headline, author, date and last-updated date.
• Categories or tags by game and by kind of post.
• Author pages that say who is writing.
• A clean URL for every article.
• A disclosure line on any review where you received the game free or earn from links.

Feature examples. Related-article links, a newsletter sign-up, comments, embedded video.

How to build it. A hosted builder with a blog, or a content management system. The technology is the easy part. The commitment is publishing regularly in your own words. If you plan to earn from it, read making money from a gaming website before your first sponsored post.

Community or server hub

What it is for. The front door to a Discord server, a guild or a game server you run, such as a Minecraft or modded server.

What it needs:

• A “how to join” page with the address or invite and step-by-step instructions.
• Rules, and how to appeal a ban.
• An events calendar or announcements.
• Staff list and contact.

Feature examples. A Discord widget, a live “players online” count, a map or gallery of community builds, a forum.

How to build it. The pages are easy and a hosted builder covers them. Two popular features are not: a live server status needs a small program that queries your game server, and sign-in with Discord needs an application behind the site. See the features checklist for what each involves.

Landing page for your own game

What it is for. Turning a visitor into a wishlist, a purchase or a press mention.

What it needs, usually on a single page:

• The trailer, near the top.
• One sentence that says what the game is, then three or four features with screenshots.
• A buy or wishlist button for each store the game is on.
• A press kit: logo, screenshots, description, contact.
• A way to follow development, such as a newsletter or Discord link.

Feature examples. If the game is on Steam, the Steam store widget is an embed that shows the game with its current price and a buy button, or an “Add to Wishlist” button before release. Steamworks documents how to generate it from the “Embed” button on your store page.

How to build it. A hosted builder or a small static site. It is your game, so the assets are yours to use, which removes the copyright questions the other types face.

Browser-games portal

What it is for. Letting visitors play HTML5 games directly in the page.

What it needs:

• A catalogue with search and categories.
• A play page for each game that loads the game in a frame, with controls and a fullscreen option.
• A way to add games and their metadata without editing every page by hand.
• Permission for every game you host or embed.

Feature examples. Ratings, recently played, high scores, user accounts.

How to build it. This is custom code. Each game is an application running inside your page, and performance and security both matter. If the goal is to publish games you made, a simpler path is a host built for it: itch.io accepts an HTML5 game as a ZIP file containing an index.html and runs it in a frame on your project page. Your own site can then be a landing page that links there.

Choosing between them

Ask what one action you most want from a visitor:

1. Join us or watch us: team site.
2. Read this: blog or news site.
3. Come into the server: community hub.
4. Wishlist or buy my game: landing page.
5. Play right now: portal.

Then go back to the step-by-step guide and continue with step 2, or go straight to building a gaming website with AI to compare the two ways to build it.

Frequently asked questions

What types of gaming websites are there?

Five kinds cover most cases. They are a clan or esports team site, a game blog or news site, a community or server hub, a landing page for a game you made, and a browser-games portal where visitors play in the page. Each has a different goal, set of pages and level of technical difficulty.

Which type of gaming website is easiest to make?

A landing page for a single game or a small clan page is easiest, because it is a handful of static pages with a few embeds. A hosted website builder handles both without code. A browser-games portal is the hardest, since it needs a catalogue, a play page per game and permission to host each game.

Can one gaming website combine several types?

Yes, and many do. A team site often adds a news blog, and a community hub often adds a forum. Start with the single type that matches your main goal, launch it, and add the second once the first is being used.

Do I need permission to put games on a browser-games portal?

Yes. Games are copyrighted works, so you need the developer's permission or a licence to host or embed each one, unless you made the game yourself. Linking to a game's official page is a different matter from hosting its files.