HONG KONG/HANOI: TikTok took the initiative and conducted tests so users could play games on its video-sharing platform in Vietnam; part of plans for a major push into gaming, four people are familiar with the matter said.
Featuring games on this platform will be very beneficial. It can boost advertising revenue as well as the amount of time that users can spend on the app, one of the world’s most popular, with more than 1 billion monthly active users.
Boasting a tech-savvy population with 70 percent of its residents under the age of 35, Vietnam is the most attractive and influencing market for social media sites such as TikTok, Meta Platforms Inc’s Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s Youtube & Google.
TikTok, which China’s ByteDance owns, also plans to roll out gaming more widely in Southeast Asia, the people stated. That initiative could come as early as the 70 percent, said two of them.
However, the sources refused to be identified as the information has yet to be publically disclosed.
According to the TikTok representative, that company has tested bringing HTML5 games, a common form of minigame, to its app via tie-ups with third-party game developers and studios like Zynga Inc. But it refused to comment on its plans for Vietnam or its broader gaming ambitions.
According to the representative, “We are always open our gates for the new enrich methods for our platform and regularly test latest features and integrations that bring the value to our community.”
Moreover, ByteDance did not respond to a request for comment.
However, TikTok plans to roll out gaming elements in other markets. However, TikTok users can watch games being streamed; in most regions, they cannot play games within the TikTok app.
Moreover, in the United States of America, only selective games appear to have been founded, including Zynga’s “Disco Loco 3D”, a music and dance challenge game and “Garden of Good, and many more”, where players actually grow vegetables to begin donations by TikTok to the non-profit Feeding America.
Mainly, the company will start with minigames, which manage to have simple gameplay mechanisms & a short playing time; its gaming initiatives grow beyond that, said one of the people who directly knew the matter.
TikTok’s games are likely to have advertisements from the start, with earnings divided between ByteDance and game developers, a separate source said.