Snapchat to Bring Third-Party Games In-App This Fall: Report

Snapchat launched its design overhaul earlier this year and received major backlash from its users and investors. Ever since, the company has been reworking changes and also introducing new features to gain momentum once again. It even introduced AR game-like features in its app for more engagement, and increasing its user base. However, a fresh report suggests that full-blown games are coming to the app very soon. This information comes just days after Snapchat launched SnapKit, letting people use Snapchat credentials to sign into apps, while strictly limiting access to personal data or activity tracking.

A report by The Information suggests that Snapchat is bringing games into its apps as soon as this fall. It will allow third-party companies to build games that can be played within the Snapchat app. The report also claims that the company is already working with a gaming publisher for this purpose; however the name of the gaming company remains unknown. The report details, "Snap is preparing to launch a gaming platform that would let outside developers make games that would be played in the app. Messenger-based gaming hasn't caught on in the US, but Snap's young, highly engaged user base may give it an advantage."

This move is with the intention to grow user base, increase time spend within the app, and ultimately garner more revenue through ads. This new gaming platform would also give it an edge against Instagram, which has been cloning many of Snapchat's features recently.

This isn't the first messaging app to get into gaming. Facebook Messenger has several games in-app to keep its users hooked. Furthermore, the report states that Tencent's WeChat makes almost 40 percent of its revenue through purchases of virtual goods on its in-app games. To recall, Tencent also has some stake in Snap Inc. as well.