Viber adds games to popular messaging app

Users will be able to challenge each other and see rankings on a leaderboard, as part of the app's aim to take on Skype

Hiroshi Mikitani, chairman and chief executive officer of Rakuten Inc. is pictured in the Viber app on the phone of Talmon Marco (Getty Images)

Viber, already one of the most popular messaging, voice and video call apps, has added games to its platforms so that friends can face off against each other.

Users will be able to play games through the app, inviting contacts to play, tracking scores and ranking them, and send gifts to other players. The games will be separate from the main app and available to download through the Android and iOS app stores.

The company said that the games will “take on the Viber brand look and feel”, and they will feature characters from the app’s Sticker Market — a collection of characters that function a little like emojis. The company has partnered with leading games makers.

Of the three games that will be available at launch — Viber Candy Mania, Viber Pop and Wild Luck Casino — the first two feature characters from the Stick Market, Violet and Legcat.

Viber Games has already launched in five countries — Belarus, Malaysia, Israel, Singapore and Ukraine — and will be rolled out internationally in January 2015. More games are set to be added to the line-up soon after that.

Viber began as a free messaging app similar to WhatsApp, but with voice calls, and has been adding extra features recently. It rolled out video calls in September, as well as recently launching public chats.

Viber was bought by Japanese online retail firm Rakuten in February.