Snap Games are Making Group Chats Dynamic and Competitive
After months of not opening the application, Snap Games have pulled me back in.
Earlier this April at the Snap Partner Summit 2019, Snap unveiled a plethora of upcoming games to its platform available to its 189 million daily active users (mau). With it came Bitmoji Party, PikPok’s Zombie’s Rescue Squad, ZeptoLabs’s CATS Drift Race, Zynga’s Tiny Royal, Spry Fox’s Alphabear Hustle and Game Closure’s Snake Squad.
If you’ve messed around the many features Facebook’s Messenger has got to offer, you will ask “What’s so special about a group chat with games?” Messenger has offered games like 8ball, Words With Friends and more, but what makes Snap Games unique is its real-time multiplayer.
A Dynamic Group Chat That Does Not Penalize Inactivity
During the month of use, the best feature of Snap Games has been its ability to use the games as a means to enrich the conversation rather than a substitute for it. While in-game, players can text and even join a call without having to leave the game. It makes the games that much more personalized by having friends talk during the game — whether it’s to cheer or boo you.
Games are best with friends, but even if no one in the group chat joins, you can play on your own. Granted, some users may have more free time to spare than others. Snapchat knows this, that’s why it’s as simple as tap to play to join. Additionally, one can leave the games at any time: it won’t penalize you for leaving the game early, nor will it affect your group chat friends, who can keep playing long after you’ve left the app.
And if you’re the last remaining member of your group chat playing, there’s no need to worry since Snap Games connect your party (even if that party is of one) to any lobbies with space. You might spectate for a round here and there, but the wait isn’t that bad.
A Freemium Model: Six Second Unskipabble Ads
For the luck of the 189 mau, the games are all free to play within the Snapchat ad. For the luck of Snap, Inc, there’s 189 mau, which means that ads are a perfect place for it. During my first month of playing, I haven’t seen any ads other than in-house ads for Snapchat Spectacles.
But I’m sure it won’t be long before we start seeing more six-second ads from other brands, which is a surprise given their audience relationship to said ad format. According to Digiday’s Lucia Moses:
Snapchat has had a tough time getting people to watch ads on the platform. A 2017 study by customer acquisition firm Fluent found that 69 percent of Americans “always” or “often” skip ads on the app, a figure that goes up to 80 percent for 18- to 24-year-olds, the key Snapchat audience and one that’s highly coveted by advertisers. Forcing them to watch ads could turn them off further, to the detriment of the advertisers and the shows’ producers.
Bitmoji: The Future of Snap, Inc.
Finally, a key factor for Snap Games is its use of Bitmojis. Much like Nintendo did with their personalized avatars (Miis), Snap is looking to do the same and bring your highly customizable Bitmoji to video games. According to TechCrunch’s Josh Constine:
Its new Bitmoji for Games SDK that will let hand-selected partners integrate 3D Bitmoji as a replacement for their character skins[…] The SDK should make it easy for developers to pipe in life-like avatars that give people a stronger emotional connection to the game.
While Snap has been quick to adapt Bitmojis into every aspect of Snapchat (we’ve seen Bitmojis on Snap Maps, Codes, lenses, stickers, etc), adding them to their video game lineup will be a step in the right direction, creating a more personalized experience not only within chat but in-game.
Got any thoughts to add? Tweet me @juliangumbo or comment below!
Julian Gamboa is a UC Berkeley graduate with a focus on marketing. Julian was selected as a LinkedIn Top Voice for Marketing and #Social Media (2017) and a Course Instructor of the marketing and digital publishing course Digital Marketing Today at the Haas School of Business. He is currently a Marketing & Social Media Manager at Adweek.
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