Snap Inc. has announced that it’ll be bringing augmented reality games to its social camera and chat app Snapchat.
Dubbed Snappables, these in-app AR lenses offer Snapchat users small games to play that can be controlled through touch, motion, or, in some cases, facial expressions.
Much like Facebook Messenger’s Instant Games, many of Snapchat’s Snappables have a social element to them as well. For example, some games feature high scores and let players issue challenges to friends, potentially nudging Snapchat users of a more competitive nature to jump into the app more often.
Snapchat notably offers a free creation tool called Lens Studio that allows anyone to create custom AR lenses like face masks or stationary objects, but there’s no word if devs will eventually be able to create games as well through that program.
It is worth noting as well that the introduction of games to Snapchat comes just one month after Snap Inc. acquired PlayCanvas, a UK-based tech firm and creator of a cloud-based HTML5 game engine.