12 Best Free and Paid Gaming Website Templates

Once considered a niche subject, the gaming industry has grown so big that it attracts millions of people. If you’re passionate about games, now’s the right time as ever to get involved with the market.

There are numerous routes you can take — whether as a professional gamer, a creator, or a reviewer of video games. Regardless of which suits you, you need the right tools to promote what you offer.

One way to do that is by creating a website. Now, while there’s a lot that goes into website building, you can start by picking a template. Having a ready-to-use base for customization will save you time and energy.

The problem is, there are countless gaming website templates you can use. How do you choose?

In this article, I list some of my favorite free and paid gaming website templates for all development skill levels.

Some selections are suitable for beginners, while others are for professionals with coding knowledge. Later on, I’ll also include some pointers on what to look for when picking a gaming website template.

Here’s a list of the best gaming website templates for 2021

1. Marketing Strategy — perfect for a gaming company website. It’s affordable, responsive, and optimized for search engines. What’s more, it comes in a bundle with Zyro website builder, making customization painless for beginners.
2. Eldritch — if WordPress is your go-to platform to build a game website, then I recommend this one. It’s an all-in-one theme with a high-fantasy aesthetic that’s perfect for gamers, reviewers, and game companies.
3. Youplay Bootstrap — a paid template for building an online game store, a blog, or a gaming forum. It’s built on the Bootstrap 3 framework, so it looks appealing and is mobile-ready from the get-go. It has a steeper learning curve to modify, however.
4. The Alchemists — if you’re looking to build a game portal for eSport matches and news, this template might just be the one you need. It has pages tailored to accommodate stats, tournament info, as well as player and team profiles.
5. 50 Zones Online Gaming Forum — a Wix template. As the name suggests, this template has a lot of features needed to design a forum for gamers.
6. Endgame — a free HTML template for building a game review website or a landing page to promote your latest video game projects. It has a full-width slider that immediately attracts visitors’ attention.
7. Game Warrior — another free HTML template you can use for designing a game portal. It comes with all the essential features you need for a great gaming website.
8. Marketing Strategy — perfect for a gaming company website. It’s affordable, responsive, and optimized for search engines. What’s more, it comes in a bundle with Zyro website builder, making customization painless for beginners.
9. Finest Game — an HTML template for building game reviews and news websites. It comes with plenty of optional perks that can make customization easier, but more expensive.
10. Divi Defenders — a game layout package for Divi, a popular WordPress theme. The template comes with 7 different page styles you can incorporate into your Divi-based website and free image assets for commercial or non-profit use.
11. Good Games — a free gaming template you can use to build a game portal, a blog, or an eSports tournament website.
12. GamingMag Magazine & News — as you can tell from the name, GamingMag is a template intended for building gaming news and magazine websites. It’s a child theme of another WordPress template called News Vibrant and can be downloaded for free.
13. Jannah Games — a demo for a news and magazine WordPress theme called Jannah. It has comprehensive features including numerous layout and header options.

1. Marketing Strategy (Zyro)

While this one is not exclusively a gaming website template, you can use it for your game startup company.

The first remarkable thing about this theme is that it sports a clean and minimalistic design that allows you to create a professional one-page website.

It comes with premade sections where you can introduce your company’s games, team, and product reviews. What’s more, you can customize them in no time using Zyro’s website builder.

Simply drag and drop the elements you need and don’t, and your site will be ready in no time. I find the builder’s grid system to be especially helpful to keep objects in place. It lets even a beginner with no coding experience like me to create a stunning website quickly.

On top of being easy to customize, this template is also mobile-friendly, SEO-optimized, and retina-ready. It also has plenty of web-safe fonts to ensure your website is readable across all browsers and devices.

Although you can’t export this template for websites built outside of Zyro, you can use the template for free. Still, you need to purchase a plan starting from $1.99 per month to connect a custom domain and publish your site.

2. Eldritch (WordPress)

When it comes to building a gaming website on WordPress, Eldritch is a template you should consider.

The first striking feature of this template is the stunning design. It lends itself well to websites that aim to incorporate fantasy aesthetics.

There are six demos you can use, each with varying layouts that serve different purposes, such as a site for eSports or a game portfolio.

On top of being pleasing to the eyes, the template designs are responsive and SEO-optimized.

Other features I found worth mentioning are the one-click importer for each demo and its large arsenal of customization options. It has a huge library of shortcodes in particular.

The comprehensive features of this template don’t come cheap, however. If you want to get a taste of Eldritch, you can purchase the regular license for $79. It already includes 6-month customer service, but you can extend it up to a year with $25.13.

3. Youplay (HTML)

Youplay is an HTML template you can use to build any kind of gaming website, ranging from something as simple as a gaming blog to something more complex like an eSports platform.

You can also use it for a gaming forum or an eCommerce website to sell your games. Some of its notable features include an AJAX contact form, app carousels, and four demo variations you can try.

However, like most HTML templates, you need coding knowledge to customize Youplay the way you want. If you’re a beginner, you might need to hire a web developer to do the work for you.

Nevertheless, the regular license of this template starts from $30 per month. It already includes 6-month support from the developer, which you can extend up to a year with $9.75.

4. The Alchemists (HTML)

The Alchemists is one of the best gaming website templates for an eSports website. It features plenty of useful features such as a registration area, tournament breakdown pages, and player profiles.

This game template includes 4 different layouts, each with their own dedicated stats and widgets. Included within the package are premade tournament pages for Overwatch, League of Legends, CS:GO, and a generic one you can customize for other games.

What I like about this template is that it has sections for showcasing video game streams from Twitch and YouTube. Plus, there’s a blog section where you can post gaming news, and a shop area to sell games.

You can unlock everything The Alchemists has to offer starting from $24 per month. You need to pay an additional fee of $7.50 if you want to extend support up to 12 months though.

5. 50 Zones Online Gaming Forum (Wix)

Next on this list is 50 Zones, a Wix template for building an online gaming forum. As you might expect, it boasts features such as a login and member area, event pages, and forums for discussions about gaming related topics.

Design-wise, this template is pretty sharp and modern. The homepage is equipped with a full-width header for either a video or an image, which is displayed with a parallax effect when scrolled.

Similar to Zyro’s template, you can customize 50 Zones using Wix’s drag-and-drop feature. However, to unlock more advanced functions like ad removal, custom domain and more storage, you need to pay a bit more in comparison.

The cheapest plan costs you $14 per month, while the most popular plan, the Pro one, costs you $23 per month.

6. Endgame (HTML)

Endgame is one of the best gaming HTML templates for a gaming website. You can use it either to promote your video game projects or building a game review platform. It sports an eye-catching dark purple layout with a contemporary feel.

Visitors are presented with a full-width sliding header the moment they land on your site, where you can put a banner introducing your game. Other notable features of this template include newsletter subscription forms, sticky sidebars, and a contact page.

The best thing about this theme is that you can download it for free. However, it’s under the Creative Commons license, so attribution to the template’s original creator is necessary.

This HTML template has a single license fee of $19/year.

7. Game Warrior (HTML)

If you want to create a game portal to share your thoughts on the gaming industry or market your project, then Game Warrior might be the gaming HTML template you need.

What I like the most about this theme is that it has a news ticker bar to showcase the latest headlines. It’s a handy way to bring your visitors up to speed with your freshest content. This template also includes several ready-made sections for forums, game products, and blogs.

Much like the previous template, Game Warrior is available for free but licensed under the Creative Commons.

You can pay $19 per year to get a single license of this template and premium support for one year.

8. Finest Game (HTML)

Finest Game is a gaming HTML website template for building a review and news website. It has everything you might expect from a website geared towards written content, from post categories and social sharing, to various typography and blog layouts.

If you’re an aspiring game reviewer, this template has everything you need. But the price is a bit on the hefty side, especially if you buy it with additional offers like a drag-and-drop builder, GDPR and CCPA compliance features, or full installation by the developer.

The one-time regular license costs you $75. But if you buy it alongside all of the additional perks, it can reach a whopping $943.

9. Divi Gaming Defenders (WordPress)

Divi Gaming Defenders isn’t a standalone theme. Rather, it’s a layout pack for the popular WordPress theme and visual builder, Divi. A layout pack is a collection of premade pages for a complete website. So to use it, you need a Divi subscription first.

Aside from having a stylish and clean design, Divi Defenders comes with plenty of free-licensing image assets. You can use it for commercial use with no strings attached, saving you from dealing with copyright hassle.

There are 7 different page layouts included in this pack, which you can use to build game landing pages, community platforms, or a gaming blog.

Thanks to the popularity of this theme and the open-source nature of WordPress, the documentation is pretty comprehensive. But as with a lot of WordPress templates, customization may have a steeper learning curve.

Regardless, if you’re interested in using this one, you can purchase it in a bundle with a Divi license starting from $89 per year.

10. Good Games (HTML)

Looking to build a game portal or a blog? You might want to consider using this template. Good Games is a responsive, retina-ready gaming HTML template you can download for free.

Some of its notable features include clan war and tournament pages, Mailchimp integration, and an online game store.

Blogs made using this template can be presented either in grid or list layouts. You can also choose between two game catalog variants, build player profile pages, and set up a forum.

11. GamingMag Magazine & News (WordPress)

GamingMag has all the features you need for building a game magazine website on WordPress. It has plenty of news layout widgets to choose from and is translation-ready.

Plus, there are countless color options you can experiment with. You can use them to color-code the categories of your posts. Other highlights include a sticky menu, wide and boxed layout, as well as top header section.

This template is a child theme of a premium theme called News Vibrant. While you can download and use it for free, the features are understandably limited.

You can opt to buy a premium license starting from $59 if you want more functions such as preloaders, more layouts, and other customization options.

12. Jannah Games (WordPress)

The last template on this list is Jannah Games, a gaming website demo of the Jannah theme for WordPress.

It lends itself well to websites geared towards game journalism, as it has a wide range of features suitable for the job.

One thing I noticed the moment I saw this theme is how organized everything is. You can access important and popular sections from the sticky navbar. It also has numerous layout options ranging from full width to masonry.

Other remarkable features are the AMP-compliant code for fast loading time, numerous header styles, and inline ads for articles.

You can purchase the regular license starting from $59, with an additional fee of $17.63 for extended support for up to 12 months.

What to Look for On a Gaming Website Template?

When choosing the best templates for gaming websites, consider a few factors. In general, the criteria you must think about are more or less similar to choosing regular website themes:

• Design — choose something that represents how your gaming website is supposed to look and feel. Make sure it fits your site’s purpose too. Check whether the layout is easy to navigate and whether all elements work as they should be.
• Responsiveness — since more and more people are going mobile to access the internet, make sure your website template is compatible across devices.
• SEO-friendliness — templates with poorly coded HTML structure can slow down your websites and make it more difficult to discover. Make sure your gaming template complies with the best SEO practices. You can test your website using tools such as Pingdom and GTmetrix to see whether your web performance suffers a hit after using a template.
• Security — some third-party templates might be vulnerable to security threats. So before settling with any, check the code’s security using an online theme checker, for example.
• Compatible — if you choose a WordPress theme, make sure it’s compatible with the plugins you currently use.
• Learning curve — is a template easy to customize? Pick something that you’re confident in customizing within your skill levels.

Another way to tell the quality of a gaming template is by reading the reviews and seeing the ratings. Make sure the developer is active and frequently update their theme, too.

That way, you can immediately get the necessary support if a problem arises and minimize the risk of security or compatibility issues.

My Pick for an Amazing Gaming Industry Template

In this article, I’ve listed some of the best templates for building a gaming website, regardless of whether you’re a developer, a game journalist, or simply a gamer.

It’s hard to choose just one favorite among that many fine selections, but I settled for Zyro’s Marketing Strategy because of its affordability and beginner-friendliness.

For someone with virtually zero experience in web design like I am, it really helped me to get the word out about my game projects and company. The design is simple to tweak yet remain on-point.

So hopefully this list was helpful next time you’re putting out your next best gaming website. Good luck!

This post contains affiliate links. When you use them to buy a service, I may earn a commission.

Looking to build a game portal or a blog? You might want to consider using this template. Good Games is a responsive, retina-ready gaming HTML template you can download for free.

Some of its notable features include clan war and tournament pages, Mailchimp integration, and an online game store.

Blogs made using this template can be presented either in grid or list layouts. You can also choose between two game catalog variants, build player profile pages, and set up a forum.

11. GamingMag Magazine & News (WordPress)

GamingMag has all the features you need for building a game magazine website on WordPress. It has plenty of news layout widgets to choose from and is translation-ready.

Plus, there are countless color options you can experiment with. You can use them to color-code the categories of your posts. Other highlights include a sticky menu, wide and boxed layout, as well as top header section.

This template is a child theme of a premium theme called News Vibrant. While you can download and use it for free, the features are understandably limited.

You can opt to buy a premium license starting from $59 if you want more functions such as preloaders, more layouts, and other customization options.

12. Jannah Games (WordPress)

The last template on this list is Jannah Games, a gaming website demo of the Jannah theme for WordPress.

It lends itself well to websites geared towards game journalism, as it has a wide range of features suitable for the job.

One thing I noticed the moment I saw this theme is how organized everything is. You can access important and popular sections from the sticky navbar. It also has numerous layout options ranging from full width to masonry.

Other remarkable features are the AMP-compliant code for fast loading time, numerous header styles, and inline ads for articles.

You can purchase the regular license starting from $49, with an additional fee of $13.88 for extended support for up to 12 months.

What to Look for On a Gaming Website Template?

When choosing the best templates for gaming websites, consider a few factors. In general, the criteria you must think about are more or less similar to choosing regular website themes:

• Design — choose something that represents how your gaming website is supposed to look and feel. Make sure it fits your site’s purpose too. Check whether the layout is easy to navigate and whether all elements work as they should be.
• Responsiveness — since more and more people are going mobile to access the internet, make sure your website template is compatible across devices.
• SEO-friendliness — templates with poorly coded HTML structure can slow down your websites and make it more difficult to discover. Make sure your gaming template complies with the best SEO practices. You can test your website using tools such as Pingdom and GTmetrix to see whether your web performance suffers a hit after using a template.
• Security — some third-party templates might be vulnerable to security threats. So before settling with any, check the code’s security using an online theme checker, for example.
• Compatible — if you choose a WordPress theme, make sure it’s compatible with the plugins you currently use.
• Learning curve — is a template easy to customize? Pick something that you’re confident in customizing within your skill levels.

Another way to tell the quality of a gaming template is by reading the reviews and seeing the ratings. Make sure the developer is active and frequently update their theme, too.

That way, you can immediately get the necessary support if a problem arises and minimize the risk of security or compatibility issues.

My Pick for an Amazing Gaming Industry Template

In this article, I’ve listed some of the best templates for building a gaming website, regardless of whether you’re a developer, a game journalist, or simply a gamer.

It’s hard to choose just one favorite among that many fine selections, but I settled for Zyro’s Marketing Strategy because of its affordability and beginner-friendliness.

For someone with virtually zero experience in web design like I am, it really helped me to get the word out about my game projects and company. The design is simple to tweak yet remain on-point.

So hopefully this list was helpful next time you’re putting out your next best gaming website. Good luck!