Yandex Games has published “Igrotok” in mobile stores without an official announcement. This is a game library of hyper-casual games, whose principle of operation resembles working with content on TikTok. The key difference is that the swipe does not launch a new video, but a preview of the game or the game itself (depends on the platform).
On iOS, the library works like this: the player swipes gameplay videos. If he likes something, he clicks on the “Play” button under the video. The game is loaded immediately. As a rule, each title starts immediately with the gameplay. The player does not need to scroll through the opening credits, log in, or select modes in the menu.
On Android, the principle of operation is slightly different. The user swipes not videos, but games that are loaded one after another.
Igrotok has adopted from social networks not only UX, but also the key principles of their work. The service allows you to “remember” your favorite game projects, and its recommendation system selects content based on user preferences,” a source in Yandex told our publication (he also specified that it was the Yandex Games division that was engaged in the project).
The service is already available for download from the App Store and Google Play. There is no information about the number of games available at the start. It is also unclear how the publication of third-party titles and monetization in Igrotok will be built.
According to this application, it seems that the company is experimenting with the submission format. The rating of the service on the App Store is currently high — 4.6 points. Users praise the developers for the idea, but complain that there are not enough games.