Microsoft Corporation's professional networking platform, LinkedIn, is looking to diversify its offerings by incorporating gaming features. This strategic move is geared towards enhancing user engagement in the wake of a growing trend among non-gaming platforms.
LinkedIn intends to tap into the popularity of casual puzzle-based games, which enjoy widespread use among mobile users. Offering similar interactive games will serve to offer a more entertaining experience, thereby attracting and retaining users.
Screenshots of the games currently in development were shared by app researcher Nima Owji and subsequently confirmed by LinkedIn to TechCrunch. These games include titles such as "Queens", "Inference", and "Crossclimb", with a unique concept that employees' scores could influence their companies' rankings in the games.
Despite launching new features geared towards increasing user engagement, LinkedIn still focuses heavily on adapting popular tools to professional networking with an emphasis on its core demographic. These puzzle-based games are being integrated into the platform to utilize their popularity in fostering user interaction and connection.
LinkedIn's initiative encompasses a vast array of areas inclusive of online education, professional development, publishing, news operations, video tools, and collaborations with creators and influencers. A spokesperson for LinkedIn confirmed the advent of this gaming initiative, although no launch date has been decided thus far.
The spokesperson stated, "We're playing with adding puzzle-based games within the LinkedIn experience to unlock a bit of fun, deepen relationships, and hopefully spark the opportunity for conversations". Information around Microsoft's involvement in this gaming project was not divulged, and it remains unclear as to whether these games will be available to all users or just paid subscribers.
