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Mobile gaming
AbacusGames

Mini games in Tencent’s WeChat are turning everyone into casual gamers in China, especially adults

  • Low-skill casual games like Candy Crush Saga are upending stereotypes about what it means to be a gamer
  • Adults make up nearly 70 per cent of gamers on WeChat, with an even gender split

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WeChat data shows mini game players are split evenly between men and women. Photo: Shutterstock
Masha Borak
You’re probably familiar with the typical “gamer” stereotype: a young boy glued to his console or PC while playing some first-person shooter or MMORPG for hours on end. But in reality, gamers are a much more diverse lot – many being adults playing casual games on their phones.

In China, it’s become common for kids to see their parents fixated on their smartphones while playing games within WeChat, the country’s biggest social platform. WeChat recently revealed that nearly 70 per cent of gamers on the app are people older than 30.

Gendered stereotypes about gamers also go out the window with casual games, which have a more equitable distribution. WeChat data shows that players of its mini games are split evenly between men and women.

WeChat first introduced some basic games to the platform in 2013. But by 2017, the app allowed developers to make their own full-fledged mini programs. By the end of the year, WeChat developer Tencent brought this functionality to games, giving users the ability to play more sophisticated games that launch within WeChat itself – no need to download a new app.

Soon after the launch of these mini games, WeChat had its first viral hit with Tiao yi tiao , which roughly translates to “Jump Jump”. The simple mobile game that involves jumping across platforms hooked 100 million daily active users within just two weeks. Other mini games have since become popular, aided by WeChat’s sharing function.
By 2019, WeChat said mini games had more than 400 million monthly active users. Li Qing, director of mini games for WeChat, said during an event on Wednesday that the games had been gaining even more traction recently, but he didn’t provide new numbers.
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