Performance of WebGL on mobile browsers in the context of videogames

The market for mobile games has been growing in the past years, but the performance of 3D applications on mobile devices is still lacking. Additionally, 3D graphics are also becoming more popular on mobile games, and the quality and smoothness of the game-play experience is becoming a big concern. With the new WebGL specification the browser also becomes a viable platform for mobile gaming, but few studies approach the subject from a scientific point of view. This paper studies the limitations of the current mobile hardware and browsers solutions by analyzing the frame rate and power consumption of two Android mobile devices in relation to the changing number of objects in a WebGL game, the level of detail of the shadows, the vertex count of the models, and the texture resolution. This study finds that even though the newer high end devices are able to comfortably run our tests, the older and less powerful devices still struggle and are not able to provide a smooth gaming experience. It also discusses possible improvements to the research and the feasibility of mobile games built with WebGL, and concludes that with current devices and browsers WebGL mobile games are not yet a possibility