The gaming sector is one of the most exciting and adrenaline-pumping sectors in the entertainment industry. The global gaming industry crossed a staggering $162 billion in 2020. That value is all set to touch almost $300 billion in the next five years. Just in the first quarter of 2021, over 14 billion mobile games were downloaded globally.
But the biggest challenge that gamers face is the unavailability of an in-game chat in most games. This is when gamers switch to platforms like Discord and Twitch that allow users, especially gamers, to communicate with others.
This dampens the user experience from the game’s point of view as the game developers, studios, and publishers are not providing a complete gaming environment. To tackle this problem, game developers can use real-time chat SDK tools that can help in creating and integrating a chat solution within the game’s boundaries.
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How Big of a Loss Is It?
To put the importance of in-game chat in perspective, let’s take a look at the number of gamers who use third-party platforms for communication. 70% of Discord users say that they use the platform for gaming purposes. And the total number of Discord users goes well into the 300 million. That’s a high number of people using just one chatting platform. The provision of an in-game chat could have helped in keeping these gamers inside the gaming environment itself.
Apart from reducing customer experience, the unavailability of an iOS or Android video chat can also cause a negative response to your game. No matter how good your game is, the experience created for the user will always be attributed to these third-party platforms instead of your gaming app.
In-Game Chat Benefits
In-game chat has numerous benefits. With a gaming chat solution, game developers, gaming studios, and publishers can create a personalized and engaging gaming atmosphere for all users.
1. Cross-Platform Availability
Not all games are mobile app-based. Some games even utilize desktops for delivering a rich and immersive gaming experience. Messaging SDK makes it easy for your game developers to design a high-performance chat solution and make it available on all platforms and devices, like mobiles and desktops.
With such API and SDK tools, you can also add a chatting solution to games played on consoles and smart TVs.
2. Integrating Voice and Video Conversations
Multiplayer and group-based games sometimes require a medium through which players can communicate while playing the game. Typing out the text to send messages to teammates might not always be a viable solution, especially when it comes to games that require constant attention.
In such circumstances, voice chat SDK comes in handy as it allows your game users to interact with each other through voice-based conversations. This way, players can discuss their strategies and formulate new plans in real-time. Video chat SDK tools can also help you add a high-quality video-based communication medium to your game.
3. Encourage Social Engagement
Apart from individual player-to-player and team conversations, you can even add options that would allow your gamers to create private groups and even public forums to interact with more people.
This integration not only enhances the user experience but also generates positive feedback from the players, leading to more downloads of your game.
4. Secure Communication Medium
Data privacy is extremely important for all users. With end-to-end encryption and strict privacy protocols, you can develop a safe and secure communication channel for all players. In-app chat SDK also lets you add a message profanity filter so that you can have complete control over your players’ experience while keeping the conversations clean and open for all.
What Do You Gain From This?
Apart from creating a fun and immersive gaming experience and generating positive feedback from users, you can also gain insights that will help in developing the game. With the help of chat data, analytics, and real-time insights, you can make better changes to the game, bring out new features during software updates, and improve your marketing campaigns and strategies.
Also, along with player-to-player conversations, users can communicate with you regarding any problems or queries. A fast and live chatting solution will help the user in getting quicker responses and solutions.
Conclusion
Adding a chatting service inside your game with the help of chat APIs and SDKs can be game-changing for your game. The in-game chatting option can prove to be a handy tool that can enhance your game’s brand by generating a buzz, bringing in new players, and retaining the current ones.
