The audience is spoilt with social media services and apps, and no longer wants to read threads or watch long videos. They crave to have fun here and now. For example, to play a quick browser game, get a 5 dollar deposit casino bonus, or watch a 20-second video.
This explains the popularity of TikTok and indicates the latest industry trends. In this article, we want to discuss one of the innovations waiting for TikTok users and those who still doubt whether to join it or not.
The service conquers a new market
The number of active TikTok users is expected to reach 1.7 billion by the end of this year and the team works tirelessly to offer new services and features. According to Reuters, TikTok heavily invests in HTML5 games and has already entered the testing phase. The same report says that the service focuses on a live gaming feature that will boost engagement during real-time streams.
In 2021, TikTok announced a partnership with Zynga and launched Disco Loco 3D, an HTML5 game, and later confirmed that it was discussing more titles with large gaming studios. The result of these discussions was the Garden of Good in partnership with Feeding America with the noble aim of raising funds for charity.
And while little is known about TikTok’s switch to in-app games, TechCrunch and Reuters have found multiple signs that the company is looking for ways to invest in live games. For example, Watchful, a mobile product firm from Tel Aviv, is already working on adding mini-games to live streams to boost user engagement.
One of the games by Watchful is called Draw and Guess. Its main goal is to motivate viewers to participate in the stream. The content creator gets a word and draws it on the screen, while the audience tries to guess it correctly. The right answer is shown to everyone.
Another thing to praise Watchful for is an opportunity to share the screen with the viewers in a live mode. Content creators can show their photos, audio, notifications, and other elements in different modes including landscape and portrait.
And while many engineers across the world are working on developing gaming features for live modes, it is Watchful that has already combined flow analysis, computer vision, and other elements to create a real breakthrough in the industry.
But games are only the tip of the iceberg and TikTok is considering other features to boost their live platform. For example, Watchful’s Treasure Box rewards random users with coins when the timer runs out. However, the story behind this partnership is rather unclear. When TikTok was asked for comments, they said that their HTML5 games have nothing to do with live gaming or Watchful research.
All that we know for sure is that TikTok is working on an in-app shopping feature that is already available in China, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and the UK. And it is only a matter of time before the bag icon appears in the live streams and the users are able to make instant purchases. But there are still not many official comments about this or any future services that will be launched by TikTok in the nearest future. They are surely too shy or cautious to share their plans.
About TikTok
TikTok is a service that hosts short videos which last from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. The company was released in September 2016 and in recent years has surpassed 2 billion downloads on Android and iOS. TikTok has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Singapore, London, Tokyo, and many other cities of the world.
In 2021, it was ranked the most popular service of the year surpassing even Google. Market experts predict that TikTok will eventually do better than Instagram, Facebook, and other social media services.
Wrap-up
The audience was quite skeptical when TikTok first appeared. However, it has quickly gained momentum and become one of the leading trendsetters. And even if launching mini-games is not yet official, we are sure that adding gamification to the service is only a matter of time. And TikTok will then become as powerful and popular as ever before.
