LinkedIn might be another social media platform to expand into gaming. The Microsoft-owned professional network plans to introduce playable apps to increase user engagement.
App researcher Nima Owji was the first to report on LinkedIn’s plans to add games to its platform. “There are going to be a few different games and companies will be ranked in the games based on the scores of their employees!” he said, sharing several images of playable apps.
Among them are puzzle-based titles called Queens and Crossclimb, but there aren’t many details about the upcoming rollout at the moment.
BREAKING: #LinkedIn is working on IN-APP GAMES!
There are going to be a few different games and companies will be ranked in the games based on the scores of their employees!
Pretty cool and fun, in my opinion! pic.twitter.com/hLITqc8aqw
— Nima Owji (@nima_owji) March 16, 2024
A spokesperson for LinkedIn later confirmed the information to TechCrunch: “We’re playing with adding puzzle-based games within the LinkedIn experience to unlock a bit of fun, deepen relationships, and hopefully spark the opportunity for conversations.”
The publication also obtained new images of games that LinkedIn is currently experimenting with. The company said it will share more details in the future, but it is unclear whether Microsoft’s gaming division is involved in making the playable apps.
Crossclimb, one of the games that might appear on LinkedIn (via TechCrunch)
Over the years, we have seen many non-gaming platforms trying to gain a foothold in this area, from Snapchat to TikTok to Netflix. When it comes to simple puzzlers, The New York Times acquired Wordle for a seven-figure sum in 2022, and Merriam-Webster purchased one of its most popular clones, Quordle, last year. The NYT even noted that Wordle brought it an “unprecedented tens of millions of new users,” with millions of people still playing it.