Follow the money wisdom
When the news about TikTok’s billion-dollar foray into gaming came out, it might have raised eyebrows in the gaming industry for several reasons.
Yep, we’re talking about “TikTok Made Me Play It”, which could be hitting us as early as November 2023. This new “standalone gaming tab” was announced as the future way for gaming companies to market their games.
It definitely makes sense. If you want to be seen and get exposure to the youngest generation of people spending their time on social media, then you probably want to pay attention to TikTok. It’s the short-form video medium that’s the most popular in the world (yeah, move over, Instagram reels). It’s cool, it’s hip, and Facebook, Instagram, and even Twitter might be losing their sheen after decades of dominance, if only because Boomers still think they’re cool.
The stats already show the twilight of older social media platforms. According to Backlinko, TikTok’s growth in 2020-2021 was 18.3%, the fastest of them all. We can blame the pandemic for that, if we want to, but video was always going to be the next popular form of social entertainment, once Twitter’s text format got dull and Clubhouse tried to (and seems to have failed) popularize audio formats.
TikTok was also the third-highest used social media, for both men and woman, just behind YouTube and Facebook.
Is there room for Web3 in social gaming? Sure, if that’s the audience you want
Then again, you do want to think about the super boost of audience that TikTok promises. Why? Because people who actively use social media may not necessarily be the same people who actively game.
The success of Facebook gaming appears to suggest otherwise, of course. We all remember how many days and months (let’s pretend some of us didn’t give years) we each sank into Farmville and similar games (check out our Townstar review if you want an idea), mindlessly clicking on our accounts and our friends’ accounts, pulled inexorably towards repetitive actions like zombies. However, that kind of gaming isn’t necessarily viewed favorably by, let’s say, gamers who identify as part of the PC Master Race or even console gamers.
There is a term that recognizes games that exist on social media: “idle gaming” or even “casual gaming”.
Is sustainability important for Web3 games?
The growth of gaming seems unstoppable, especially in Web3, where new possibilities in gaming, such as ownership of in-game assets and community-driven game development, are yet to fully emerge.
However, the decision by Facebook and Snapchat to wind down their own gaming platforms raises the question: are these major companies overlooking the potential of casual or social gaming? Or are these models simply not sustainable?
Clues to these answers can be found in the early Web3 games we’ve witnessed in recent years. You’re familiar with them—the Play-to-Earn (P2E) modeled games, where gameplay takes a backseat, and the focus lies on leveling up, battling to earn more tokens, and repeating breeding processes in the hopes of striking lucky and obtaining rare NFTs for eventual sale.
Forget plot, forget storylines, and excitement. It’s all about grinding out the highest-level character you can get, collecting the most gold, tokens, and more. Coming back every 15 minutes, 1 hour, 24 hours, or whatever time duration it is until your mana/power bar is refilled or to collect whatever bonus tokens you’ve staked.
Sounds suspiciously like Farmville, doesn’t it?
And you have to admit, these games didn’t last very long, did they? Axie Infinity and other P2E titles, despite multiple attempts at revival, simply can’t find a way to rediscover their popularity. We aren’t surprised at all because if earning money is the only thing motivating people to play, then when your main token is not even at 5% of ATH ($7 now in mid-2023 compared to above $160 at its peak), why would anyone come back to play?
And we do insist that sustainability, which is an important concept for successful games, is just as crucial for Web3 gaming.
Not to knock casual gaming, just know your gamers
This isn’t even a criticism of casual gaming. Far from it. In an industry, you don’t discriminate against your audience.
We don’t identify as PC Master Race advocates; we think all consoles are excellent (bring Sega Mega Drive back!).
Mobile gaming, social gaming, and casual gaming all open up gaming to a whole new audience of people who otherwise couldn’t be bothered to spend money on a gaming PC or wait two years to get the new PlayStation on Amazon (yeah, it took that long).
So if you have a gaming project in blockchain that aims to do all the things that mobile, casual, and social gaming did well, then you’ll definitely want to be on “TikTok Made Me Play It”.
So perhaps the real question to ask isn’t if TikTok will bring exposure to gaming companies. You will get exposure. You will attract a lot of attention from males below the age of 30 (the majority demographic of TikTok). You will be seen everywhere by a lot of people.
TikTok’s global head of sports and gaming content, Harish Sarma, claims, “This concept of unknown or past content reaching new audiences is endemic to TikTok. It’s in our DNA. You’re seeing this happen with archive content because you’re reintroducing it to a new generation of fans where this content was largely locked away.”
Sarma is probably right, but whether or not it’s going to be an effective marketing tool as TikTok thinks probably depends on the type of game you’re promoting—and the type of gamer you want.
Is the gamer you’re looking for part of the TikTok audience?