Tencent has opened the 'mini game' platform housed within its WeChat chat app up to external developers, allowing a select group third-party devs to release games on the app for the first time.
WeChat could easily be an alluring platform for mobile developers: according to the South China Morning Post, the chat app itself boasted over 1 billion monthly active users in February and captured the attention of 100 million players with an earlier game called Tiao yi tiao.
Much like those on Facebook’s Instant Games platform, WeChat’s mini games are small games implanted within the chat app itself that allow WeChat users to play without an external download and often feature social play in some way.
Devs that release games on WeChat, or Weixin as its known in mainland China, receive anywhere from a 30 to 50 percent share of revenue generated from in-game advertisements, reports the South China Morning Post. WeChat mini games on Android are also able to include microtransactions, though Tencent claims 40 percent of the revenue from those as well.
Right now, a handful of apps represent the first non-Tencent subsidiary made games on WeChat. Tencent hasn’t detailed, however, if or when it will open up WeChat mini game development to the general public or if the mini game platform will open up to Western WeChat users at any point.