It's official: Snap is launching its own gaming platform called Snap Games.
Back in March, a report said that Snapchat is going to release a gaming service code-named Project Cognac on April 4. As it turns out, it proved to be accurate, and the company just made it official at its first-ever Snap Partner Summit in Los Angeles.
How To Play Snapchat Games
Users don't have to install or sign up for anything to start playing Snap Games. They can fire up the platform in the app's chat by tapping on a new rocket icon located in the far-right side of the bar.
They can then play live with their friends, while sending a chat or talking in real time with voice chat.
The Games
Snap Games is debuting with six games in total, all meant to be played with friends: Bitmoji Party, Tiny Royale, Snake Squad, C.A.T.S. Drift Race, Zombie Rescue Squad, and Alphabear Hustle.
First off, Bitmoji Party is a first-party title of the company, and it seems to take a lot of cues from the Mario Party series — there's a slew of mini-games and a 3D Bitmoji version of the user. The other games were made in partnership with third parties.
From the look of things, Zynga's Tiny Royale is capitalizing on the popularity of battle royale games, such as Apex Legends and Fortnite, with a top-down take on the genre.
Snake Squad is developed by Game Closure, and it's similar to the likes of Agar.io. Next, C.A.T.S. Drift Race is made by ZeptoLab, and as the name suggests, it's a racing game with cute cat characters.
Zombie Rescue Squad from PikPok is a zombie shooter where players are tasked with rescuing survivors in a city full of the undead baddies. Last but not least, Alphabear Hustle made by Spry Fox is a puzzle game that requires players to think quick and cooperate to form words.
The games are all free to play, of course. That said, it's worth mentioning that Snap is profiting from these through unskippable ads, which will give players a bonus, an in-game item, and whatnot whenever they watch one. It's still unclear whether developers will have more options to make money off the platform in the future.
Snap Games has already begun rolling out to Android and iOS devices.
