To encourage users to spend more time in the app, Microsoft on Wednesday launched several classic games to its Teams chat and calling service.
Along with the new Microsoft game IceBreakers designed to help teams get to know one another, Solitaire will also be accessible. Microsoft is making an effort to position Teams as the top place to do business, building on a platform that gained enormous traction during the epidemic when workers were compelled to assemble and cooperate remotely. The most popular devices now support Teams, and desktop software developers like Adobe and SAP have created integrations for Teams.
Microsoft is attempting to inject some fun into the equation and perhaps even improve relationships at work by introducing games. Minesweeper is a puzzle game with clickable squares that features some virtual mines that must be avoided. Employees can collaborate remotely to win the game. People can also choose to merely enjoy the show. Nicole Herskowitz, a corporate vice president at Microsoft, stated in a blog post that the enhanced spectator mode allows everyone, whether actively participating that round or not, to follow the action and engage with the players on screen. It reminded her of watching “Jeopardy,” she said.
Microsoft is used to producing games. The company offers a variety of ways to play casual games in addition to the entire Xbox series, which debuted in 2001. For instance, the Windows version of the Microsoft Solitaire Collection program includes the well-known Klondike game. Microsoft revealed plans in January to buy Activision Blizzard, the company that creates Call of Duty franchise first-person shooters, for around $69 billion. Regulations must first be cleared for the transaction.
Microsoft released the first versions of Solitaire and Minesweeper in 1990. An application created to assist people to become familiar with Windows and learn how to use a mouse, Solitaire is a variant of a card game from the 1800s. However, The Washington Post claimed in 1994 that it ended up becoming the most popular game on the operating system. According to the newspaper, Bill Gates, the first CEO and co-founder of Microsoft had to remove a Minesweeper from his computer due to a severe Minesweeper addiction. Microsoft’s present focus is on convincing executives to extend and renew their subscriptions to Office 365, a vital package that the corporation is in the process of rebranding as Microsoft 365. In the third quarter, Office contributed 23% of Microsoft’s overall revenue.
Microsoft even promotes games as a possible means of enhancing cognitive development. A Microsoft representative highlighted research involving more than 2,000 kids in an email to CNBC to support the idea that playing video games improved working memory compared to not playing. Microsoft is also integrating Wordament, a mobile game, into Teams as part of its latest version. When Microsoft allowed staff to create Windows Phone apps in their spare time in 2011, two employees came up with the Boggle-like game as a way to entertain their wives. The game, which tests users’ word recognition skills, has amassed 1 million downloads on Android.
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The Microsoft representative claimed that the IceBreakers concept was especially well-liked. The email from the spokesman stated, “As we tested several game ideas across Microsoft, this was one of the most requested game genres, and we listened to the feedback to create this game. The Games for Work app for Teams, which is now accessible to Microsoft enterprise and education clients, includes games including Minesweeper, Solitaire, Wordament, and IceBreakers. To play the games, users must have access to apps in Teams, which must be enabled by administrators. In 2023, the company will add more games from partners to Teams, according to Herskowitz.
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