Snapchat Rumors: Tencent Suggests Snapchat As Gaming Platform

Chinese investment company Tencent is already an absurdly profitable and influential force in the video games industry, whether you know it or not. The massive conglomerate posts record profits from several mega-hits, but according to Reuters, Tencent’s gaming influence might be coming to a social channel near you.

Tencent acquired 145.8 million shares in Snap Inc. last week, or a 12 percent stake in the U.S.-based social media firm. Reuters reports the investment will be active rather than passive, with Tencent working with Snap on strategies for the future. One such strategy might be using Snapchat to publish mobile games.

“The investment enables Tencent to explore cooperation opportunities with the company on mobile games publishing and newsfeed as well as to share its financial returns from the growth of its businesses and monetization in the future,” Tencent told Reuters. Snap has not provided a comment at the time of writing.

It is unclear what, exactly, it would mean to turn Snapchat into a gaming platform at the moment. Clever developers could probably come up with neat ideas for games that incorporate the app’s use of the camera and focus on time-limited interactions with your friends, but it is so early in the process right now that there is no telling what form it could take.

It is worth noting that Tencent’s statement to Reuters also mentions the idea of a newsfeed, a social media staple that Snapchat has avoided including up to this point. Perhaps Snapchat has a future rooted in Facebook’s past, with a social newsfeed rife with Farmville spam.

A move into mobile games publishing would fit neatly into the arc of Snapchat’s evolution since the app rose to prominence. Originally a way to send 10-second pictures and videos to friends, Snapchat has gradually added news and live events coverage through Snapchat Discover, as well as the ability to send money to friends through Snapcash. Gaming would make sense in Snap’s quest to become an all-purpose social hub.

Said newsfeed might be part of the app’s imminent redesign, said to be coming on Dec. 4. Snap probably hopes a more user-friendly redesign that surfaces more content more easily will help revitalize the brand, which has seen disappointing results since going public earlier this year.

Tencent’s name might not be front and center on the world’s biggest video games, but the company rakes in cash from owning Clash of Clans developer Supercell and League of Legends developer Riot Games. It is also responsible for Arena of Valor, an astronomically popular Chinese mobile game that brings in 55 million players on a daily basis. Similar in gameplay and design to League of Legends, Arena of Valor is also coming to the Nintendo Switch in 2018.

As if all of that is not enough, Tencent has also been in talks to buy equity stake in Korean developer Bluehole, the studio behind the massively successful PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Needless to say, the chilling possibility of gigantic corporate monopolies dominating media does not apply exclusively to Disney.