Snapchat Adds Video Games to App in Latest Bid to Boost Sales

Snap is getting into the video-game business, according to Bloomberg. Users of Snapchat will now be able to play games within the app’s messaging section, the company announced at an event in West Hollywood, California. Snap unveiled six games custom made for the mobile app, including one, Bitmoji Party, it produced in-house.

Snap’s namesake app has struggled to add customers over the past couple years, and the company has branched out into video and entertainment to create new ways to make money from its existing base of 186 million daily active users. The company began selling six-second video advertisements that viewers couldn’t skip last year and will run them within the games.

Snap announced the games at the end of a presentation that also introduced 10 new original series, including a daily news show from BuzzFeed. Snap already hosts daily shows from NBC and ESPN, and introduced its first slate of original series last year.

Snapchat has been testing AR games within the app, and foreshadowed a deeper interest when it paid a reported $8.6 million for Prettygreat, an Australian gaming studio. Messaging is still the most common way in which people use Snap, and the first few games are all designed to be played together with friends.