Snapchat launches first India-made Snap Game ‘Ludo Club’

Snapchat partnered with Moonfrog Labs to launch the first local Snap Games on the app.

Ludo Club launched on Snapchat. (Snapchat)

Snapchat on Thursday launched “Ludo Club”, its first local Snap Games in India. Snapchat partnered with Moonfrog Labs, a Bengaluru-based gaming company, to launch Ludo Club on the app. It's an exclusive, custom made version of the game that can be played by Snapchat users with their friends.

Snap Games made its debut back in 2019, and it has since then amassed more than 100 million users globally, the company said in a release. The company develops its own games, and also works with partners to launch popular games on Snapchat. It has so far partnered with gaming developers including PikPok, Spry Fox, Game Closure, ZeptoLab, Zynga, Mojiworks and Gismart. Snap Games is one of the key areas the company is focusing on as it increases its presence in the country.

“We've continued to develop new games, both our own and working with partners. We also spent time thinking about ways we can create a truly local games experience. One of the ways we did this in India was introducing an Indian kitchen challenge, ‘Dosa Dash' in one of our hit games Ready Chef Go!. Since its launch in October, over 6 million matches have been played,” John Imah, Global Head of Games and Brand Partnerships at Snap told HT Tech in an interview.

Snap Games are available within the chat feature of Snapchat. It's easily accessible and users can start playing these games directly from chat. “We designed Snap Games as entwined with Chat because we believe that friendship is more than just the things you chat about, it's an experience you have together. Every game has friends at its core and will continue to do so,” Imah added.

Snap Games launched with six games including Bitmoji Party, Alphabear Hustle, C.A.T.S. (Crash Arena Turbo Stars) Drift Race and Snake Squad. It has introduced more games in the past year, and has seen notable user activity.

“More specifically our partner Gismart's debut game Colour Galaxy which launched in 2019 has been played by over 41 million unique Snapchatters and Crazy Run, which launched in February as part of a multi-title partnership with them has already reached 7 million players and Ready Chef Go! which launched last year with Mojiworks, amassed over 25 million unique players within the first six months,” Imah said.

Ludo Club is the latest local product offered by Snapchat in India. Its launch also comes shortly after Snapchat launched the first Snap Original “Phone Swap India” in the country. It is also launching a new comedy series with Vir Das, an exclusive series on Raftaar with OML. Snapchat has been building inroads in India, a market it hadn't explored for years. The company said it witnessed a growth of 150% in India to reach over 60 million users.