Zynga announced on Monday its plans to launch a new HTML5-based game, “Disco Loco 3D“, exclusively on TikTok platform. An endless single-player game where players collect their own dance moves while challenging friends, avoiding obstacles and collecting medallions as they walk the catwalk, similar in spirit to Zyng’s “High Heels.” Although TikTok says that the game is intended to test the general interest of its audience in gaming within its application, the company has confirmed that talks with other game manufacturers are already underway.
HTML5-based mobile games have become a popular way to reach a large number of global users, especially those in emerging markets where consumers may not own high-end phones or cannot afford fast data transfer. Google, for example, has embraced the format with its launch of the GameSnacks HTML5 gaming platform, which this year has expanded to include a new Google Chrome card in markets such as India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Kenya.
In a broader sense, however, the technology industry is establishing a link between platforms where users go to have fun or socialize, and platforms dedicated to playing games. Facebook stepped into cloud games last year with the launch of Facebook Gaming on the web and Android, writes Tech Crunch. And Netflix has just launched its own gaming service to global users on Android, and today to iOS, saying the company believes gaming is just another category of entertainment. Now it seems that TikTok is open to researching that concept as well.
TikTok tells TechCrunch that partnering with Zyng will help the company better understand how its community is gaming. The company today has a wide audience of game lovers, including casual and hardcore gamers, it is said, but does not know if these users would respond to this kind of integration in the application.
However, this is not TikTok’s first game. Earlier this year, the company launched its own “Garden of Good” game, which was built in partnership with the non-profit organization Feeding America and was focused on raising funds for charity. Although that game may have given TikTok some early information about users’ interest in the games, the game itself was a different type of experience. In the game, TikTok users would take care of their own garden and support friends who played the game. And when the garden grew, they could force TikTok enters the world of mobile gaming with Zynga to make a donation to Feed America using their points.
Zynga integration is a more traditional game, although it is not currently monetized, notes TikTok. For example, there are no in-app purchases or a share of game earnings revenue. Instead, the focus for now is on testing the appetite of TikTok gaming users.
As for Zynga, the company said it sees TikTok as a platform that will allow it to reach a new audience through the app’s huge reach.
“Zynga has a rich history of creating games that use the platform’s unique user experiences to bring fresh and fun concepts that resonate with players wherever and whenever they have funSaid Bernard Kim, president of Publishing in Zyngi, in a statement.
The game is not currently available on TickTok, but it will appear in the coming weeks on both iOS and Android in the North American markets.
The partnership with Zyng may be the first in TikTok’s broader investigation of mobile gaming. The company told TechCrunch that it is in talks with other partners in games for similar contracts, but cannot release details at this time
The news of the games was released along with Zyng’s third-quarter earnings, where the company reported revenue of $705 million, 40% more than the previous year, and provisions of $668 million, up 6% from the previous year. Zynga also said she hired former Coca-Cola CEO Matthew Wolf to run his blockchain business.
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source: techcrunch