Rivalry between Chinese social media giants intensifies as ByteDance’s Douyin follows Tencent with mini game

  • Douyin’s first in-app game looks similar to WeChat’s viral jumping title from 2017
  • ByteDance and Tencent are increasingly stepping into each other’s territory to gain more users

Chinese short video app TikTok, known as Douyin on the mainland, has become a global hit. Photo: SCMP s

Douyin, the viral short video app run by ByteDance, has launched its first mini game, built on top of a new feature allowing users to play games inside the app without having to download them separately.

The move will intensify social media rivalry between ByteDance and Tencent Holdings, China’s biggest games publisher, as mini games are added to apps in the battle to win over a bigger share of the country’s mercurial millennials.

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