Defold is a turn-key, free and source available game engine with the editor, scripting, tools, and deployment flow working together out of the box for seamless development of cross-platform games for PC, consoles, web, and mobile.
There is nothing more tedious than keeping tools and SDKs updated with the latest changes and requirements, especially when all you want to do is create a game. You should never have to do more than download and install Defold once. Nothing else.
You do not need Xcode to make an iOS or macOS build, neither Android Studio, nor Visual Studio. Everything's set up for you, and you can still control the build process through our command-line tools if you want to.
Defold shines especially bright for 2D game development, yet does not limit you to two dimensions. Built from the ground up as a modern 3D game engine, it provides a capable foundation for fast, lightweight, performant games. Customize the rendering for your need - for PBR, stylized lighting or other special effects.
The Defold APIs work across supported platforms, so you do not need to manage render pipelines or input methods - one code base works for all. We offer official Native Extensions for platform-specific integrations, e.g. for in-app purchases, add mediation services, networking solutions, and more.
We believe speed is key to productivity, and nothing should stand in your way. Defold builds take usually only a couple of seconds. You can even push new or updated content and logic to an already running game on your device.
The Defold SDK lets you write engine extensions in C, C++, C# or JavaScript without building a separate engine workflow around your project. Typical use cases include high-performance calculations, hardware access such as mobile cameras, and integrating external SDKs for ads, analytics, and services.
Defold gives you full access with no up-front costs, royalties, or licensing fees — even for supported console ports. Keep your revenue, keep your freedom, and focus on what matters: creating exceptional games.
The source code of the Defold engine, editor, and building tools is available on GitHub. Examples, tutorials, and many officially supported extensions are open sourced in the Defold GitHub organization.
Defold has a very small engine runtime and performs really well even on older hardware. We spend a significant amount of effort making sure it stays that way. The engine is designed from the ground up to conserve memory, take up little disk space, and not waste CPU cycles.
Keeping the engine small allows you to release games on platforms that many other engines are unable to support.
Release builds · Default settings · No optimizations
Test made using an empty project. Exported to the target platform using default settings. Release builds with no additional optimizations. Android and iOS values represent exported package size. The HTML5 value represents uncached download size when compressed with gzip.
Production games have been shipped by studios worldwide across web, mobile, desktop, and consoles. Defold games reached more than 600 million plays on Poki in 2024.
Games made with Defold
Björn, Mathias, Vlad, and Paweł will attend gamescom 2026. Contact us to schedule a meeting.
Chairperson · Product Owner · Developer
Veteran game developer starting in pre-smartphones mobile era, prominent advocate for browser gaming, speaker, with Defold since 2015 as Product Owner, Developer and now a chairperson at the Defold Foundation and co-founder of Refold Games studio.
Chairperson · Engine Developer
In games industry since 2001, over a decade at Avalanche studios working on Just Cause or Mad Max, experienced engine and tools programmer, lead engine developer of Defold, CTO and board member at Defold Foundation, co-founder of Refold Games studio.
Editor Developer
Specialist in Clojure and JavaFX - the technologies behind Defold's editor, speaker in the related communities, long time Defold editor developer responsible for editor customisation and automation tools.
Community & Content Manager
Long time Defold user, now responsible for community and content for Defold, organising Defold Game Jam in September, indie game developer, speaker, running a Youtube channel about game development.
We’re looking to meet with publishers to demonstrate why Defold is a trusted, fully featured engine with all the essential services you need to successfully publish games built with Defold.
Finally, we’d love to talk with game technology and service providers about how we can integrate your products and services into the Defold ecosystem, bringing even more value to our developer community.
We’re excited to connect with game studios and indie developers to show how Defold can be the perfect engine for your next project — lightweight, powerful, and production-ready.
No fixed stand this year
Use the official gamescom biz app or MeetToMatch to schedule a meeting with the Defold team.
You can also contact us on X or LinkedIn, or email business@defold.se.
We occasionally send product updates, game releases, practical tips, and everything else that's worth reading or watching regarding Defold. The emails are optional, sent sparingly, and you can opt out at any time.
Download Defold and start building your next cross-platform game with the editor, runtime, build pipeline, and tools working together out of the box.
Works out of the box
Build 2D and 3D games
Cross-platform deployment
Rapid workflow
Native extensions
Free. Forever.
Source available
