Threads Explores In-Message Games to Boost User Engagement
Threads is testing a basketball game in chats, aiming to stand out among competitors like X and Bluesky
The game was found by Alessandro Paluzzi, a reverse engineer. He discovered this game feature while it was still being developed. He shared a screenshot showing how users can shoot hoops by swiping their finger. Friends can compete to see who can score the most baskets, like other basketball games on smartphones.
Bringing games into Threads could help it compete better against apps like X and Bluesky, which don’t have built-in games. It might also help Threads challenge Apple’s Messages, which allows games through third-party apps like GamePigeon.
Right now, no one knows when or if Meta will officially release games in Threads messages. This isn’t the first time Meta has looked into games in messaging. Last year, Instagram had a hidden emoji game in direct messages. Players moved a paddle to keep an emoji bouncing. If the emoji dropped, you lost. The goal was to see who could get the highest score in the chat.
This new game idea comes as Meta adds features to Threads to compete with other platforms. Recently, Threads expanded its Communities feature with more topics, trying to attract users from places like Reddit and X. It also added a feature for “disappearing posts,” where users can share ideas that disappear after 24 hours.
Even with 400 million monthly users, Threads still trails behind X in the U.S. A report from Pew Research Center shows that 21% of U.S. adults used X, compared to only 8% who used Threads and 4% who used Bluesky.