Construct
Construct (Scirra Ltd), a London-based bootstrapped software company, offers Construct 3, a browser-based, no-code 2D game engine with multi-platform publishing, plus Construct Animate animation software and Construct Game Services backend platform, serving 1.95M annual hobbyist and commercial game creators globally.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2000
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Construct does
Construct (Scirra Ltd) is a UK-based, privately held software company founded in 2000 and headquartered in Wandsworth, London. The company builds browser-based, no-code tools for 2D game creation, animation, and live game services, with operations scaled to a deliberately lean 1-10 employee team. Its flagship product, Construct 3, is positioned as a 2D game engine that runs entirely in the web browser without installation, combining a visual event-sheet scripting paradigm for non-programmers with optional JavaScript integration for advanced users. Built on HTML5 and WebGL, Construct 3 supports single-click multi-platform publishing to Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, Steam, Itch.io, Newgrounds, and Facebook Instant Games via built-in APK and Xcode build services.
The product portfolio extends beyond the engine. Construct Animate (introduced 2020) is a browser-based animation tool sold on a comparable subscription architecture. Construct Game Services (launched 2024) is a backend-as-a-service platform offering authentication, leaderboards, cloud save, achievements, broadcasts, XP tracking, translations, and triggers, exposed via a REST API and a .NET SDK. The Construct Arcade provides game hosting with automatic leaderboards, and an Asset Store bundles roughly 137 royalty-free asset packs plus 25 premium packs, adding a transactional channel on top of subscriptions.
Construct's commercial model is recurring subscription. Construct 3 is sold across Personal ($129.99/year), Startup Business ($168.99/seat/year, gated to <$50K revenue), Business ($468.99/seat/year), and Education (from $32.99/seat/month with seat discounts) tiers; Construct Game Services is sold from a free 500-player tier up to $99+/month for 500K players. There are no royalties on games produced. Go-to-market is product-led and community-led, anchored by forums, tutorials, free game-dev courses, an official blog, and an affiliate program. Construct reports 250,000+ monthly game creators, 1.95M annual creators, 200,000+ new projects per month, and 60,000+ exports per month, with stated adoption by major gaming and entertainment customers including EA, SEGA, Zynga, King, Netflix, and Cartoon Network. Construct remains bootstrapped with no disclosed outside investors; a single 2011 capital event of approximately $35,000 is recorded.
Construct firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Construct
- Legal name
- Scirra Ltd
- Website
- https://construct.net
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2000
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Construct (Scirra Ltd), a London-based bootstrapped software company, offers Construct 3, a browser-based, no-code 2D game engine with multi-platform publishing, plus Construct Animate animation software and Construct Game Services backend platform, serving 1.95M annual hobbyist and commercial game creators globally.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Construct industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Game Development Software
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Game Engine & Creation Platforms (UGC/Modding) (BPAMAKAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Game Engines (General-Purpose & Real-Time 3D) (MPAFAFAA), Creator Tools & Production (Overlays, Alerts, Encoding, Editing, Audio) (MPAFAEAC)
Keywords
Where Construct is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Construct business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Construct 3 Subscriptions: Annual and monthly subscription plans for the Construct 3 game engine. Tiers include Personal (hobbyists), Startup Business (small orgs under $50K revenue), Business (commercial orgs), and Education (teaching organizations).
- Construct Animate Subscriptions: Browser-based animation software sold via subscription tiers similar to Construct 3.
- Construct Game Services (CGS): Backend game services with free tier (500 players) and paid tiers (Pro at $19.90+/month for 50K players, Business at $99+/month for 500K players). Additional charges for extra storage, leaderboards, translations, and triggers.
- Asset Store Sales: Digital asset marketplace selling addons, animations, eBooks, fonts, graphics, sounds, templates, tilemaps, themes, and tools. Includes premium bundled asset packs (137 royalty-free packs with ~48,942 files plus 25 premium packs with ~6,777 files).
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free Edition - Limited features for evaluation |
| Subscription | Annual | Personal Plan - For individual hobbyists |
| Per seat | Annual | Startup Business - For qualifying small organizations |
| Per seat | Annual | Business Plan - For commercial organizations |
| Per seat | Monthly | Education Plan - For teaching organizations |
| Subscription | Monthly | CGS Free Plan - For hobbyists |
| Subscription | Monthly | CGS Pro Plan - For indie games |
| Subscription | Monthly | CGS Business Plan - For large games |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels7 records
Marketing channels13 records
Construct product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Construct offers a browser-based, no-code 2D game development engine (Construct 3) with visual event-sheet scripting and optional JavaScript, plus a companion browser-based animation tool (Construct Animate) and a backend-as-a-service platform (Construct Game Services) for authentication, leaderboards, cloud saves and player progression. The portfolio is sold primarily via recurring subscriptions to individuals, indie developers, and education/commercial organizations.
Product overview
Construct is a UK-based game development software company (Scirra Ltd) offering a platform-plus-modules product architecture. The core product is Construct 3, a browser-based 2D game engine featuring visual event scripting with optional JavaScript coding. This core engine is complemented by Construct Animate, a standalone animation tool with similar browser-based architecture. Construct Game Services provides backend infrastructure for authentication, leaderboards, cloud saves, and player engagement features via API. Additional offerings include the Construct Arcade for game hosting, an Asset Store marketplace, and dedicated Education licensing with classroom management tools. The portfolio is unified by cross-platform HTML5 export capabilities and a shared addon ecosystem.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Construct 3: The world's best 2D game engine. A browser-based, no-code visual scripting game creation platform with JavaScript support, publishing to web, mobile, and desktop platforms.
- Construct Animate
- Construct Game Services (CGS)
- Construct Arcade
- Construct 2
Products and services
- Construct 3 A browser-based 2D game engine featuring visual event-based scripting and optional JavaScript coding. Enables creation of games exported to web, mobile, and desktop platforms. Targeted at hobbyists, indie developers, education, and commercial game studios.
- Construct Animate Browser-based animation software for creating animations and exporting to video or web formats. Includes timeline animations, visual block systems, and video export capabilities for playable ads and animated content.
- Construct Game Services (CGS) Backend-as-a-service platform providing authentication, achievements, leaderboards, cloud save, broadcasts, XP tracking, translations, triggers, and ratings. Exposed via REST API with a .NET SDK and platform-agnostic for use with any engine.
- Construct Arcade Free browser-based game hosting and arcade platform for HTML5 games created with Construct, featuring built-in leaderboards and player community features.
- Asset Store Marketplace for game assets including addons, animations, ebooks, fonts, graphics, sounds, templates, themes, tilemaps, and tools for Construct developers.
- Construct Education Educational licensing offering classroom management, access codes for students without accounts, sub-teacher accounts, and free teaching resources for schools and teaching organizations.
- Construct 2 Legacy game development product, deprecated but still available for download with manual and JavaScript SDK documentation. Predecessor to Construct 3.
Quantifiable outcome
- 50%+ of HTML5 games on Kongregate made with Construct
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Construct
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Construct technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration22 records
Feature8 records
Construct partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- KongregatecoreOver 50% of HTML5 games submitted to Kongregate are made in Construct. Kongregate is a major HTML5 game publishing platform, making this a significant distribution and visibility partnership for Construct users.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Construct competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- GameMaker (Opera Gaming): Direct competitor offering a 2D-focused game engine with visual scripting and GML/GameMaker Language, targeting indie developers and hobbyists. Closest peer to Construct due to similar 2D engine positioning, subscription pricing model, and indie creator user base.
- GDevelop: Open-source, browser-based 2D game creation platform with visual event system and no-code philosophy. Direct match to Construct's UGC/no-code positioning with a free tier and commercialization through asset store and subscriptions.
- Buildbox: No-code game creation platform with drag-and-drop 3D and 2D capabilities. Directly comparable to Construct on the no-code accessibility angle, targeting similar hobbyists and indie developers.
- Stencyl: 2D game creation tool with visual block-based coding similar to Construct's event sheets. Targets the same hobbyist/indie market segment with desktop-based tooling and similar pricing tiers.
- RPG Maker: Long-standing 2D game creation suite specializing in RPGs, with subscription and one-time purchase models. Comparable to Construct in the niche 2D indie creation market and creator community strength.
- Defold (King/Playful): 2D-focused game engine with cross-platform publishing and Lua scripting. Strong overlap with Construct on 2D indie development and cross-platform export, with comparable target customer base.
Broad incumbents
- Unity Technologies: Dominant broad game engine incumbent offering full 3D and 2D capabilities. Overlaps with Construct on 2D game development targets but operates across AAA, mobile, simulation, and industrial use cases with vastly greater resources.
- Epic Games (Unreal Engine): Industry-leading 3D game engine incumbent that, while focused on high-end 3D and AAA, competes indirectly with Construct for developer mindshare and increasingly for indie creators via Unreal Engine 5's accessibility improvements.
Emerging players
- Flowlab: Browser-based game maker using visual flow-chart programming, similar to Construct's no-code event sheet approach. Smaller scale but directly comparable in its browser-first, education-friendly design.
- Phaser (Phaser Studio): Open-source HTML5 game framework powering many browser games. Adjacent technology tier to Construct—lower-level framework rather than full engine—but operates in the same HTML5/2D browser game ecosystem.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Construct social profiles
Digital presenceConstruct financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Construct leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Construct funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Construct M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Construct
What does Construct do?
Construct offers a browser-based, no-code 2D game development engine (Construct 3) with visual event-sheet scripting and optional JavaScript, plus a companion browser-based animation tool (Construct Animate) and a backend-as-a-service platform (Construct Game Services) for authentication, leaderboards, cloud saves and player progression. The portfolio is sold primarily via recurring subscriptions to individuals, indie developers, and education/commercial organizations.
Is Construct a public or private company?
Construct is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Construct founded?
Construct was founded in 2000. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Construct based?
Construct is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Construct make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Construct 3 Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are construct Animate Subscriptions, construct Game Services (CGS) and asset Store Sales.
Who are Construct's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are GameMaker (Opera Gaming), GDevelop, Buildbox, Stencyl, RPG Maker and Defold (King/Playful). Broad incumbents are Unity Technologies and Epic Games (Unreal Engine). Emerging players are Flowlab and Phaser (Phaser Studio).
Does Construct have an API?
Yes. Construct Game Services (CGS) provides a comprehensive REST API for integrating game services into applications. Supports multiple platforms including Authentication (Username/Password, Apple, BattleNet, Discord, Email, Facebook, Github, Google, ItchIO, Microsoft, Patreon, Reddit, Steam, X, Yandex), Achievements, Broadcasts, Cloud Save, Leaderboards, XP tracking, Translations, Triggers, and Ratings. Available to all developers with .NET SDK provided via NuGet package (ConstructServices). Platform-agnostic - can be used with any game engine or non-game applications. Developer documentation is at www.construct.net/en/game-services/manuals/game-services.
What industry is Construct in?
Construct's product category is Game Development Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAKAE, Game Engine & Creation Platforms (UGC/Modding), with a secondary code of MPAFAFAA, Game Engines (General-Purpose & Real-Time 3D). Its SIC code is 7372.