TikTok has been conducting experiments in Vietnam to allow users to play games on its video-sharing app as part of preparations for a major push into gaming.
Including games on its platform would increase ad income and the amount of time users spend on the app, which is one of the most popular in the world, with over 1 billion monthly active users.
Vietnam is an appealing market for social media platforms like as TikTok, Meta Platforms Inc’s Facebook, and Alphabet Inc’s YouTube and Google, since it has a tech-savvy population with 70% of its residents under the age of 35.
According to the sources, TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, aims to expand its gaming offerings across Southeast Asia. Two of them believe it might happen as early as the third quarter.
Because the material has not yet been made public, the sources declined to be identified.
A TikTok official said the business has experimented with integrating HTML5 games, a popular type of minigame, to its app through partnerships with third-party game developers and studios like Zynga Inc, but declined to comment on its plans for Vietnam or its larger gaming goals.
In an emailed response to the media, the spokesperson stated, “We’re always exploring for ways to expand our platform and routinely test new features and integrations that offer value to our community.”
TikTok’s ambitions for bringing gaming capabilities to other markets were not revealed to the media. Although TikTok users may watch games being streamed, they cannot play games within the TikTok app in most locations. Only a few games appear to be accessible in the United States.
