Now You Can Play Games and ‘Zoom’ Call Without Missing Either

It seems video conferencing is just a means to an end for Zoom as it launches games and other apps as part of the wider Zoom Apps ecosystem. With Zoom Apps, the company is going toe-to-toe with Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex’s app marketplaces for collaboration software. The company also rolled out Zoom Events yesterday.

Video conferencing service provider Zoom is introducing games on its highly popular platform, as part of the company’s newly released Zoom Apps. Developed internally by Zoom, Zoom Apps was in the works for months that aims to make some of the most important collaboration and other digital tools a little easier to access.

The introduction of games means Zoom isn’t just focusing on enhancing the productivity of its users that now also includes the casual video caller, besides professionals and students. It looks like the San Jose, CA-based company is planning for the long haul and wants to deliver a more complete experience aimed at eliminating the ‘zoom fatigue,’ a term which became popular last year, a few months after remote work became the norm.

Zoom is clearly one of the early winners of the Wuhan virus pandemic having amassed 300 million daily active usersOpens a new window by as early as April 2020. This is despite concerns over the company’s data routing policies through Chinese servers, lack of security safeguards such as encryption, and lax access controls that resulted in the ‘zoombombing‘ epidemic.

The company has since proactively instituted much needed security controls, and measures to control unwanted nuisance. In October 2020 at the company’s annual flagship event Zoomtopia, Zoom even announced a customizable software development kit (SDK) for developers and OnZoom, a platform to discover any virtual events happening over Zoom. virtual event discover any registration platform.

Currently in beta, OnZoom is a virtual event platform that allows users to browse a host of events taking place on Zoom Events, which the company rolled out yesterday. The SDK, on the other hand, allows developers to create tailor-made experiences atop the Zoom platform and can be leveraged to deliver Zoom’s video functionality into custom applications, complete with the option to customize UI and session controls. Basically, SDK can be used to integrate zoom video conferencing on a third-party platform whereas Zoom Apps is the complete opposite.

Carving a New Ecosystem

Zoom Apps or Zapps was also announced at Zoomtopia 2020. It leverages the digital storefront known as Zoom App Marketplace for easy and quick access to applications right where users would need to boost productivity, collaboration, and now entertainment. With millions of users flocking to Zoom to discuss work with colleagues, attend classes, or simply chatting with a friend or a loved one, Zoom Apps has the potential on par with the initial days of the Apple App Store or Google’s Play Store.

“[Apple] opened up their API so that others could build apps. We went a year and a half with iPhones that just had the baseline apps that Apple had — you know, calculator, messaging, music, photos. And it was remarkable. We were blown away by what we could do,” the then Chorus.ai CEO Jim BentonOpens a new window told VentureBeatOpens a new window .

Benton, now an SVP at SaaS company ZoomInfo, which acquired Chorus.ai added, “And then they opened it up, and we saw companies like Box reinvent themselves. We saw companies like Pandora suddenly thrive, where they had a beautiful player. And we saw companies like Sonos no longer have to build the hardware they had. I think that this is a very powerful moment.”

Thus, Zoom is carving out an ecosystem in a competitive space by leveraging its scale of operations. By developing an app and making it available on Zoom Apps, organizations as well as independent developers could make their presence felt on an exceptionally popular, and more importantly, a fashionable platform.

Just how often have you heard, “I’ll zoom you,” or “Let us zoom later today?” Chances are at least a few times in a week, unless of course you rely on Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or any other service for your video conferencing needs.

Zapps was launched with 25 launch partners and currently has 50 apps. The company’s initial plan did not include games but now they do. The best part about having these productivity and entertainment apps integrated into Zoom is that they’re highly accessible with a few clicks instead of users having to open them in new tabs and then continuously switch between them.

See Also: 6 Data Protection Rules To Remember While Video Conferencing

Zoom Apps (and Games!)

There are 50 apps currently available including  Atlassian, Asana, Box, Dropbox, Slack, and Wrike for collaboration; Coursera, Kahoot!, and Kaltura for Education; Slido, Cameo etc., for in-meeting experience development; Woven, Pitch, Superhuman etc., for productivity enhancement; HubSpot, Gong, etc., for sales & marketing activities; Lucidspark, Miro, etc., for whiteboarding; ServiceNow, PagerDuty for support & incident response.

It also has nine gamesOpens a new window including the popular Heads Up! created on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and developed by the Mountain View, CA-based Playco.

Playco’s Heads Up! on Zoom Apps | Source: Zoom, Playco

Playco is a $100 million fundedOpens a new window developer of instant-play games, or games that do not need additional downloads and can be played right within any third-party apps. Instant games can be played on a browser through a weblink.

Playco games are available on Facebook, Snapchat, LINE besides Zoom. “We were thrilled at the opportunity to help Zoom bring instant gaming to their users and to be a part of what is surely the future of how people connect, play and immerse themselves with entertainment and content,” said Playco Co-Founder Justin Waldron.

Playco also developed Ask Away for Zoom. Games by other developers available on the Zoom App Marketplace include LGN Poker, Gaggle Party, Just Say the Word!, Team Games, Werewolf With Friends, Dive, and meetings.fun for users to have sessions to unwind between meetings.

Any user can start a game and invite other zoom users. There are no limitations on the number of players unless specified by the game developer.

Closing Thoughts

Zoom is not the only one seeking to diversify into games and add value to its existing service for customers. OTT and production company Netflix is “in early stages of further expanding into games.”

During an earnings callOpens a new window , Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said, “We view gaming as another new content category for us, similar to our expansion into original films, animation and unscripted TV. Games will be included in members’ Netflix subscription at no additional cost similar to films and series.”

Sure, the approach taken by Zoom and Netflix is bound to differ. While Zoom is building a complete ecosystem around the collaborative and entertainment aspects for meeting participants, Netflix can be expected to focus solely on entertainment much like the Apple Arcade subscription service. At least for now. Netflix even hiredOpens a new window a gaming industry veteran Mike VerduOpens a new window towards this end. Verdu’s previous roles include leadership positions at Atari, Zynga, Kabam, Electronic Arts, and Facebook (Oculus).

Zoom certainly is playing the big picture game which is why Netflix isn’t an appropriate exemplar for the former’s competitive forays. A more appropriate canon for Netflix would be the work Microsoft, Google, Cisco, RingCentral, and others are doing on their respective apps.

And so far, it seems only Microsoft and Cisco are ahead of Zoom. Microsoft’s marketplace hosts 700 apps that can be added and used within Microsoft Teams. Developers can also add their apps on Microsoft’s platform under the Microsoft 365 App Compliance Program. Cisco also hosts the AppHub for third-party applications to be integrated into Webex.

Meanwhile, Google Meet has no third-party app integration options presently and there’s no word from the company, or any other ones for that matter, over any future plans. However, it won’t be amiss to expect Microsoft and Google too, to experience a certain FOMO stance after Zoom’s recent move toward gaming.

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