Over the last few years, online gaming has evolved at a breakneck pace. With more users getting online, gamers could easily find other players looking for companionship or competitiveness thanks to in-game chat.
Now, players don’t need to exit the app to use an external chat application because in-game chat provides a direct communication channel. Moreover, it’s imperative to integrate the in-game chat feature with the game UI to improve the player experience.
How In-Game Chat Can Enhance Gaming
In-game chat is a great way to boost player engagement. For multiplayer games, in-game chat is essential since players need a way to interact in real-time while playing.
Without leaving the game to use other applications like Discord, Whatsapp, or Slack, users can utilize the chat app system concurrently to exchange their thoughts without interrupting their gameplay.
In-game chat can improve your users’ gaming experience by allowing them to:
- Connect right away while on the gaming application.
- Establish a community over a longer length of time, all while playing the game.
- Invite their friends and family into the game, making it an extension of their real-life connections.
What Types of Games Require an In-Game Chat Feature?
Both cooperative and competitive multiplayer mode games require in-game chat functionality. Massively multiplayer online (MMO) games especially are impossible to play without in-game chat.
Even if in-game chat isn’t necessary in single-player mode, the social factor of connecting with other players who are playing at different times or on other devices can be advantageous to boost playtime and engagement levels. Some popular games that leverage in-game chat technology are Call of Duty, Player Unknown’s Battleground, House Party, and more.
On the contrary, as they get designed to be played solo, certain single-player role-playing or adventure games do not require an in-game chat feature. These games are not reliant on the actions of other players. As a result, they can work with an external messenger app for players who want it without interfering with the gameplay.
Top 3 Tips to Develop Effective In-Game Chat For Your Game
Have a look at these proven tips ways will assist you in building an effective and user-friendly in-game chat for your gaming platform:
1. Integrate the In-Game Chat Features With Your Engagement Strategy
Identify the benefits that in-game chat brings for your game and how they could help your growth strategy. Some of the major benefits include:
- Community building around your game to encourage individuals to play for longer periods. It increases the overall retention rate, resulting in improved revenue, sales, and brand loyalty.
- Improved customer service and real-time satisfaction are two other advantages of in-game chat. In case of technical glitches, gamers can immediately contact customer assistance via In-game chat.
- In-game chat helps creators develop games faster by making it easy for users to provide feedback. Developers would then have immediate access to real-time feedback, enabling them to figure out which game elements are the most valuable or intriguing to players and the sections that require improvement.
2. Prioritize Between Multiple Chat Modes
Although it’s a great idea to incorporate all the three major chat modes into the in-game chat prioritizing between the three- text, voice, and video chat is a must for your developers.
While the text is required for team interactions, in-game guilds, and chatting with friends in the game community space, your game may require audio or video as an engagement amplifier medium.
When players use both hands on their controls, using a video and voice chat API for your gaming platform eliminates the need to put the controls down to type a text.
3. Select the Appropriate Chat Application Development Platform
With multiple technical prerequisites to make in-game chat work for you, it may appear to be a challenging task to design it from the ground up. Fortunately, you could go for a chat app development platform and then use ready-made chat APIs or SDKs to incorporate in-game chat. Developers must look for a powerful and developer-friendly chat ecosystem that provides multiple popular platforms for in-game or app chat.
Conclusion
As the gaming industry grows, it will lure gamers from a wider range of demographics. Your game must rapidly captivate players to be successful and competitive.
However, gaming chat provides a robust solution in all aspects of a game: player acquisition, engagement, and retention. Players who place a high value on the community could get more engaged, play more, and spend more than others.