Sites like the New York Times have seen online gaming thrive over recent years. So, it’s no surprise to see other companies getting in on the act. Even Netflix is trying with mobile gaming and a Sonic game. One name you might not associate with this sort of digital recreation is LinkedIn. However, they have just launched their own equivalent to the NYT Games site. It maight not on the same level right now, but the titles and features show potential.
The concept is similar to NYT Games in that players get access to digital brainteasers that change daily. There will be data on winning streaks and high scores to incentivize players to come back each day and challenge themselves. Each title should be available under the My Network Tab.
The LinkedIn gaming section currently has three options for players to enjoy. They are all different enough that it will be fun to go through all three every day.
Two of the games are word-based with familiar concepts. Pinpoint works through word association. Players get a series of words that appear on the screen and have to figure out the thematic link. The challenging aspect comes from the timer. The words appear one after the other, and the goal is to figure it out in as few clues as possible. This gives the game some similarities with Wordle as players compete with themselves to better their score.
Crossclimb requires a little more problem-solving as there are clues to solve and a word ladder to complete. The words are all one letter removed from the previous entry, but it still takes some thought to get the words in the right order.
The final game is something a bit different because it is more visual. Queens is a play on the Sudoku format, but without so many figures to fit into the board. This time each section of this Sudoku board/chessboard is home to one queen. Those queens cannot be on the same row or collum – just like the Sudoku numbers – and cannot touch.
The games are as simplistic as you can get in terms of their player experience and objective. This has its benefits when bringing in people who aren’t “gamers” but appreciate a good brainteaser. The games are also short enough that you can get through the daily offerings in one short tea break. Whether that’s enough to make the games engaging long-term remains to be seen.
The venture is an interesting development for this social media site. LinkedIn is still largely about making connections with people and has that professional edge over other platforms. Even so, that doesn’t mean users can’t have some fun in their downtime. As this product director, Lakshman Somasundaram, says, it’s a chance to “put fun at the heart” of LinkedIn relationships. An added incentive here is the chance to get competitive with other players within those connections. The site can showcase scores from colleagues and students, even creating leaderboards for that added sense of competition.
Even if the site experiences slow growth, it could pay off. NYT Games has gone from strength to strength over recent years. What started as a way to get access to the daily crossword has evolved into something much broader and engaging. After the acquisition of Wordle, the site brought in a lot more players. In fact, stats show that the games were played over 8 billion times in 2023, and half of those were Wordle alone. Over the past year, the Games app and subscriptions have seen many casual readers become daily visitors.
It’s possible that LinkedIn could develop its gaming site with similar success. With ad revenue dwindling on these social media sites and an ongoing need to keep users on the platform, this could be a wise investment. Members that had fallen away from LinkedIn in favor of other sites may decide to give it a second chance.
As things stand, the gaming feature on LinkedIn is completely free for users. Everyone gets one free play per day, and there are no tiers or any need for subscriptions. There may come a point where this changes – in line with the NYT Games subscriptions – but that’s probably a long way off right now. For now, players can enjoy getting to grips with the new games while catching up with everyone on the social media platform. It should be long before those leaderboards create fierce competition and users make the games a daily habit.
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