TikTok Said to Bring Gaming to Video-Sharing App

TikTok has been conducting exams so customers can play video games on its video-sharing app in Vietnam, a part of plans for a serious push into gaming, 4 individuals acquainted with the matter mentioned.

Featuring video games on its platform would increase promoting income in addition to the period of time customers spend on the app — one of many world’s hottest with a couple of billion month-to-month lively customers.

Boasting a tech-savvy inhabitants with 70 p.c of its residents beneath the age of 35, Vietnam is a gorgeous marketplace for social media platforms corresponding to TikTok, Meta Platforms’s Facebook and Alphabet’s YouTube and Google.

TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, plans to roll out gaming extra broadly in Southeast Asia, the individuals mentioned. That transfer might come as early because the third quarter, mentioned two of them.

The sources declined to be recognized as the data has but to be publicly disclosed.

A TikTok consultant mentioned the corporate has examined bringing HTML5 video games, a standard type of minigame, to its app by way of tie-ups with third-party recreation builders and studios corresponding to Zynga, however declined to touch upon its plans for Vietnam or its broader gaming ambitions.

“We’re always looking at ways to enrich our platform and regularly test new features and integrations that bring value to our community,” the consultant mentioned in an emailed assertion to Reuters.

ByteDance didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Reuters was not capable of be taught TikTok’s plans for rolling out gaming options in different markets. Although TikTok customers can watch video games being streamed, in most areas they don’t seem to be capable of play video games inside the TikTok app. In the United States, solely a few video games look like out there.

© Thomson Reuters 2022