Rakuten Bets on Post-App Future With New Gaming Service

Rakuten Bets on Post-App Future With New Gaming Service
Shutterstock

Japanese company Rakuten is betting on a future without apps, according to Bloomberg. They have unveiled Rakuten Games service, seeking to deliver titles that don’t have to be installed on phones or personal computers.

The games can be played on web browsers or within other apps, making it easier for users to play with each other without having to wait for new software to be loaded onto their devices. Titles based on Pacman and Space Invaders are among the 15 games available on the platform.

Facebook and  Tencent have also embraced similar initiatives, seeking to keep users within their apps and services instead of venturing to app stores run by Apple and Google. While browser-based gaming is being touted as a step away from the app ecosystem, it’s also a step back to an era when apps weren’t as dominant as they are now. Rakuten is aiming for a slice of revenue in the mobile gaming-app market, which made up 81 percent of total app sales of $62 billion last year, according to App Annie.

The gaming platform is based on HTML5, the latest version of the language that powers websites, which allows for multimedia, graphic and gaming content to be delivered over the internet. Facebook joined the fray in November when it unveiled Instant Games, an HTML5-based service that lets users play games directly within Facebook Messenger. Still, HTML5 developers have a long way to go until they can produce polished games that can rival smartphone titles.

Rakuten plans to tap its database of 114 million shoppers to encourage them to try the service. The company’s frequent-shopper points can be exchanged for in-game currency to buy virtual items, while deeper integration with the company’s messaging app Viber is planned.