WeChat mini-program games are very popular. What scenarios are they not suitable for at this stage?

Recently, WeChat Mini Programs have once again made efforts, and the mini games released this time are enough to touch the nerves of every practitioner in the relevant industry. Judging from the mini programs that have been tepid so far, it is really hard to understand Zhang Xiaolong's development strategy. WeChat has great ambitions. Now is the time for it to accelerate the layout of online and offline integration. Online, there are 900 million users of WeChat, and offline stores are supported by mini programs. I have also carefully read the "Mini Program Mini Game Development Document". I personally think that the development prospects of mini games are great, and they will definitely attract a large wave of user traffic. I will not be surprised if a mini game similar to "Flappy Bird" with great influence appears in the future. There are many comments on the Internet that mini programs will replace native apps, but the shortcomings of WeChat mini programs at this stage are also obvious. At this stage, WeChat mini programs cannot do these things.

It cannot replace live broadcast, IoT, social, real-time communication and tool applications that require deep use of mobile phone sensors.

WeChat is now a super app with 900 million users. The mini-program platform it has launched will inevitably bring a lot of user traffic. It has a natural advantage for news media, shopping malls, information and other application types. The development cost of enterprises is lower, and the user acquisition cost is lower, which is a win-win situation for both parties. Users no longer need to install native applications in a tedious way. They can get the information they want by opening the mini-program and waiting for a while. However, for live broadcast, Internet of Things, social, real-time communication and tool applications that require in-depth use of mobile phone sensors, mini-programs have inherent defects. Because the development of mini-programs is essentially front-end web page development. Any problems that cannot be solved by front-end web page applications at this stage, mini-programs basically cannot solve them. For example, real-time decoding, real-time rendering, deep interaction with smart devices, precise calling or changing the built-in sensor data of mobile phones, etc. Although mini-programs can now call WeChat's API to obtain some data from mobile phones, it is still invalid if users do not give WeChat the corresponding permissions. As for social applications, WeChat itself is a social application, and it will not allow social applications that are separated from itself to appear. There is no need to explain this.

Small games will bring a large wave of user traffic, but large games and hardcore games will not be affected

WeChat has released a mini-game demo in this beta update. I believe that many users who have just updated have already experienced it. I have also roughly read the "Mini Program Mini-Game Development Document" released by WeChat today. The development of mini-games is essentially the development of H5 games. Therefore, any problems that cannot be solved by H5 game applications at this stage cannot be solved by mini-games. I personally believe that the release of mini-games by WeChat this time will definitely cause a big fluctuation in the gaming industry, and there will definitely be many excellent mini-games attached to the WeChat platform in the future. I would not be surprised if a mini-game similar to "Flappy Bird" appeared and affected the world. WeChat itself has a large number of light game user groups, so casual and stress-relieving games will definitely be very popular. However, it is precisely because of its "small" characteristics that it has no impact on large-scale games and hardcore games.

Slow startup

In the above analysis, I have mentioned two points: 1. Any problems that cannot be solved by front-end web applications at this stage can basically not be solved by mini programs; 2. Any problems that cannot be solved by H5 game applications at this stage can basically not be solved by mini games. Now I am talking about the slow startup speed alone because this shortcoming is too obvious. I used a mobile phone (only Android devices) and roughly tested it myself. When WeChat is not in the background, it takes at least 9 seconds from opening a mini program to the mini program starting to present content. When WeChat is always in the background, it takes at least 3 seconds. For iOS phones, due to the rules of iOS application operation, as long as WeChat is retreated to the background by the user, the longest survival time will not exceed 5 minutes. Therefore, the opening speed has always been the weak point of mini programs. It can be seen that at this stage, mini programs cannot compare with native applications.

The above are the scenarios and shortcomings that mini programs cannot be used in the current stage. At this stage, the statement that "mini programs replace native apps" and so on cannot be established. WeChat has great ambitions. In the future, mini programs will definitely get better and better. It is hard to predict how they will develop. In short, whether it is the company providing the service or the user who is enjoying the service, reducing the communication cost between them is the most important thing.