TikTok may be planning to make a big push into gaming. Reuters reports that the uber-popular video site is already conducting tests in Vietnam that allow users there to play games inside the app. This effort was described by Reuters as part of a “major push into gaming.”
TikTok already has 1 billion monthly active users, and adding games to the platform would, in theory at least, increase a user’s average time on the app and would drive more revenue from advertisements, the report said. TikTok is already a behemoth, recently surpassing YouTube by some metrics.
TikTok will expand its gaming tests to other parts of Southeast Asia in the time ahead, the report said, and this could happen as soon as Q3.
“We’re always looking at ways to enrich our platform and regularly test new features and integrations that bring value to our community,” a spokesperson told Reuters.
TikTok already has some games, actually, as Zynga games Disco Loco 3D and Garden of Good were added to the platform in the past. But TikTok aspires to do more and go bigger in the future, the report said. “While the company will start with minigames, which tend to have simple game play mechanisms and a short playing time, its gaming ambitions extend beyond that,” one source said.
Games on TikTok would “likely” have ads, the report said, and revenue would be divided between TikTok owner ByteDance and developers.
Even before this, TikTok had been making moves in the gaming space. In 2021, ByteDance bought the Shanghai-based game studio Moonton.
Another popular app, Snapchat, already has video games, while Netflix is expanding its own efforts in the gaming space with Netflix Games.
Source: Gamespot
