Can you play games on Snapchat?

Not anymore. What at one point seemed like a match made in heaven is now a fondly remembered—and frequently missed—feature. Snapchat’s game arcade was previously integrated into the app as a social feature.

The platform allowed you to play short app-store-style games with friends on the go.

No, these weren’t Tripple A titles, but they were enjoyable ways to experience the application while being social.

What happened to this popular mobile gaming interface? More to the point, what can you do to scratch your online gaming itch?

Snapchat Gaming Feature Overview

The Snapchat gaming feature launched in 2019. The game arcade allowed you to play directly within the app, assuming the role of your Bitmoji avatar. In that way, the games became not just a recreational activity but a fairly immersive social experience.

The titles themselves never exactly set the world on fire. Games like “Pizza Cat,” and “Flip the Egg,” never aspired to the heights of say, Assassin’s Creed.

But the games were popular, and when the platform shuttered the feature in 2022, the news was met with considerable disappointment. What motivated the decision?

The choice aligned with an overall rebranding effort meant to steer away from platform-produced scripted content, and toward user-end materials.

In other words, focus more on the social side of the app.

Even today, there are still active petitions online to bring the game arcade back. Don’t hold your breath on that one. While Snapchat as a company is doing very well, there is little reason to believe that it will pivot toward reviving an already failed feature.

So Many Other Options

Ultimately, this may be why Snapchat gaming failed. There are so many ways to play games online with your friends. Snapchat might have let you do it in a convenient format—it’s nice to have your games and your friends in one spot—but convenience isn’t necessarily the most important differentiator in this space.

Anyone doing business online needs to be very aware of the fact that competitors are just a click away.
If you go to a coffee shop in the real world and find, as you walk in, that the lunch menu isn’t everything you hoped it would be, you’ll probably still stick around to eat, right? It’s that or spend fifteen minutes Googling other options, and another fifteen minutes driving to the next spot.

Online gaming is not nearly so hindered. If you don’t like what one platform has to offer, you can find new, better choices in seconds.

To say that you have other choices would be a spectacular understatement. In fact, you have so many options that deciding among them is the real challenge.

For the Casual Gamer

Snapchat’s gaming audience most likely fell primarily into this category. The people who enjoyed playing Bitmogi Party probably don’t have an enormous overlap with the people who have been pulling their hair waiting for Elder Scrolls 6 for the last ten long years.

If you miss the type of games that Snapchat used to offer, you can find hundreds, maybe thousands of comparable replacements on your smartphone app store.

For the Specialty Gamer

There are ultimately limits to what you can find even on a comprehensive platform like Steam. If you are hoping to play live casino games, for example, you will need to go directly to the source. Look for casinos noted for their features and overall user-end experience. 

For example, some casinos have lengthy wait periods for getting your money. Instant withdrawal casinos remove that obstacle. 

You can bet real money and collect your winnings that same day, all without ever leaving your house. When you research online casinos, always make sure that you choose fully licensed venues.

For the More Serious Gamer

If you take your online games a little more seriously, look for a major platform like Steam. The Steam game store is host to thousands of titles. They range from small indie games to major blockbuster gaming experiences.

Steam is an excellent resource for both single and multiplayer games. Perfect for scratching the social itch that Snapchat left behind, but in more refined titles.

Rest In Peace Snapchat Gaming

It was fun while it lasted, but why curse the darkness when you could bask in the light? Snapchat as an application and social media platform is alive and well. The application has an incredible 800 million users—and counting. In 2023, it logged $4.6 billion in revenue.

Yes, it is disappointing to watch favorite features fall to the wayside, but sometimes you need to trim a dying branch so that the tree as a whole can thrive. That’s what Snapchat did with its gaming feature.

There are tons of other ways to play online, and many other things you can do with your Snapchat account. Find games from studios that specialize in them, and enjoy Snapchat for what it does best.