As if it Wasn't Addictive Enough, TikTok Gaming has Arrived

TikTok Gaming has Arrived

As Meta – formally known as Facebook – faces backlash as it tries to emulate the global phenomenon that is TikTok, the addictive video-sharing app has shown its own hand. A hand that contains Uno’s reverse card, it would seem. Because TikTok seems to be turning to mobile gaming, mirroring what Facebook tried (and somewhat succeeded) to do with platform-exclusive games like FarmVille.

Back in the olden days of the internet, FarmVille was something of a viral sensation (or scourge, depending on how you viewed it) which saw users coming back to the seminal social media platform day upon day to tend to their virtual crops and send their millionth invite to their nephew to visit their farm. No hard feelings, Auntie Joan.

FarmVille became one of the most popular games in the world thanks to this symbiotic relationship, with Facebook playing host instead of redirecting users to the App Store or Google Play in order to indulge. And it looks like TikTok now wants to dig their hooks even deeper into their captive audience by hosting some HTML5 games of their own.

TikTok is dipping its toe into mini-games that can be shared and played on its platform. The experiment began with Disco Loco 3D, a venture that TikTok undertook with Zynga – the very tech giant whose success began with FarmVille. Awkward.

Now, in a report confirmed via TechCrunch, it has been revealed that TikTok has quietly begun rolling out TikTok gaming in earnest, striking up partnerships with a host of new developers including Voodoo, Nitro Games, FRVR, Aim Lab, and Lotum.

These new mini-games can be found within the app when posting a video. Users will be able to post a link that will then take viewers to the minigame in question, which so far includes the following:

Basketball FRVR (FRVR)
Tap the Difference (Lotum)
Peek a Who (Nitro)
Pride Run (Voodoo)
Influencer Run (Voodoo)
Space Destroyer (Nitro)
Mr. Aim Lab’s Nightmare (Aim Lab)

The TikTok gaming venture wasn’t announced officially, with the current rollout acting as a soft launch to test the idea out. As such, the games aren’t yet monetized (emphasis on the “yet”). And although we can’t help but recall the data privacy nightmare that arose during the ‘golden age’ of Facebook games, we can but hope that those lessons have been learned.