Social gaming firm Zynga has launched its fast-paced battle royale game, Tiny Royale, as an exclusive on Snapchat. It’ll be part of Snap Games, the messaging app’s new multiplayer gaming platform, and it’s the latest in the messaging industry’s attempt to cash in on the riches and engagement associated with games. Other messaging platforms with a lot of games include Kakao, Line, WeChat, Messenger, and others.
Tiny Royale is a top-down multiplayer shooter that reinvents the battle royale experience for the Snapchat platform. Tiny Royale lets players choose custom characters and squad up with friends or battle solo for quick two-minute rounds to loot and shoot their way to victory.
Up to 30 players can battle at a time, and players can form squads of up to four friends. As players progress, they can unlock characters and collect weapons and health packs while the map shrinks during the match until only one player, or team, remains.
Starting today, Snapchatters will be able to dive into Tiny Royale instantly from Snapchat’s messaging feature, Chat. Players can also communicate with their friends through both text and voice-based Chat features during gameplay, bringing live conversation — and way more fun—to the Tiny Royale gaming experience on Snapchat.
Tiny Royale will also be launching a ranked matchmaking feature this summer called Tiny Royale Leagues. The feature will foster a more competitive environment for players by placing them in groups of 100 people, broken out into 20 tiers. Players will battle to climb tier ranks over limited time windows, earning trophies and rewards based on their performance.
“We are thrilled to be one of the first companies to launch a gaming experience on Snapchat,” said Zynga publishing president Bernard Kim in a statement. “Game developers rarely get the opportunity to create an entirely new experience on an emerging platform, so our team was excited to remix the battle royale genre into a fast-paced game designed to rock on Snap Games.”
“Snap Games is all about exploring new ways for friends to play together, and Tiny Royale is the perfect example of that,” said Will Wu, Snap’s head of Snap Games, in a statement. “We jumped at the chance to have a global leader in mobile games like Zynga develop for our platform, and we can’t wait to see what our community thinks about this new way to connect with each other.”
Snap Games is designed for synchronous mobile gameplay between friends. It is built on the PlayCanvas game engine. The platform, which launched in April, features a curated selection of original and third-party titles.