By ByteBot
Meta is testing a basketball mini-game for Threads direct messages, discovered by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi on January 4, 2026. The swipe-to-shoot game lets users compete for high scores without leaving message threads. This is Meta’s latest attempt to boost engagement on a platform with 400 million users who spend just 3 minutes per day—compared to X’s 5 hours 19 minutes per month.
The game is an admission: Threads can’t compete on content alone.
400 Million Users, 3 Minutes Per Day
Threads has a critical engagement problem. Despite explosive user growth—400 million monthly active users and 127.8% year-over-year growth—time-in-app is abysmal. Android users spend an average of 34 minutes per month on Threads total. For context, X users spend 5 hours and 19 minutes per month.
The numbers reveal a stark paradox. Threads’ engagement rate (6.25%) is actually higher than X’s (3.6%), yet users spend 10x less time on the platform. Meta can grow Threads to a billion users through Instagram cross-promotion, but if no one actually uses it, the platform is worthless. User count is a vanity metric when retention is this poor.
Early data showed the problem: Threads’ daily active users dropped from 49 million to 23.6 million in one week post-launch. That’s a 50% retention crisis. Games won’t fix the underlying content problem, but they might inflate time-in-app metrics long enough to satisfy investors.
Copying Apple Messages’ Winning Formula
This isn’t innovation—it’s imitation. Meta is directly copying GamePigeon, the #1 iMessage app that has dominated for 8+ years. GamePigeon proved in-message games work: teens play roughly 10 daily games, the app hit #1 within 6 months of launch, and it became “one of just a few reasons” Gen Z uses iMessage, according to a 2017 CNBC report.
Meta has tested this playbook before. Instagram’s emoji game launched in 2024—tap an emoji in DMs and a Pong-style game appears. Facebook Messenger had basketball and soccer tap-to-play Easter eggs years ago. Threads’ basketball game uses the same swipe-to-shoot mechanic as those popular mobile games GamePigeon perfected.
The strategy is clear: copy what worked for iOS, apply it to Threads, watch engagement metrics climb. If it succeeds, expect X and Bluesky to launch their own in-message games within 6 months.
Messaging Apps + Games: A Proven Retention Lever
In-message games aren’t just gimmicks—they’re backed by data. Mobile marketers using in-app messaging tactics experience 3.5x higher user retention and 27% more app launches. In-app messages boost retention by 30% when properly implemented.
Asian messaging giants built entire ecosystems around this. LINE (178 million monthly users) sees 16 daily sessions per user and 8 hours 3 minutes of monthly usage. WeChat’s in-app games drive over $400 billion in annual mini-program transactions. Snapchat generates $24.7 million per month in in-app purchase revenue, #1 among messaging apps.
GamePigeon saw a COVID-19 usage spike when it replaced in-person social interaction for teens. The competitive nature—defending high scores, playing multiple simultaneous games against different friends—creates habit loops that keep users returning.
But there’s a catch: these successes happened in super-apps (WeChat, LINE) or became the killer feature of a platform (GamePigeon on iMessage). Threads isn’t positioned as a super-app. It’s a Twitter alternative for news and serious discussion. Can basketball mini-games coexist with tech discourse and breaking news?
X and Bluesky Don’t Have Games (Yet)
Threads has a differentiation opportunity. X (21% US adult penetration, 600 million users) and Bluesky (33 million users, 3.5 million daily actives) don’t offer in-message games. This could matter—GamePigeon became a reason to stay on iMessage versus switching to Android.
However, X dominates on content engagement, not features. Average engagements per post: X gets 328, Threads gets 58, Bluesky gets 21. X’s 5 hours 19 minutes per month comes from an addictive news feed and community engagement, not mini-games. Meta is competing on the wrong dimension.
If Threads basketball launches and succeeds, competitors can copy it in months. Copying X’s content engagement engine is far harder. Games are easy to replicate. Building a compelling reason for users to spend 5 hours per month on your platform isn’t.
No Launch Timeline, May Never Ship
Alessandro Paluzzi spotted the basketball game in Threads code on January 4, 2026. A Meta spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch it’s an “internal prototype” with no public release timeline. The spokesperson added: “As with any internal prototype, the feature could change significantly or be scrapped altogether before launch.”
Paluzzi regularly discovers unreleased Meta features—many never ship. This might be vaporware. But the fact Meta is even testing in-message games reveals their desperation to solve the engagement crisis.
Key Takeaways
- Meta is testing a basketball mini-game for Threads DMs (discovered January 4, 2026), with no launch timeline or guarantee it will ship
- Threads faces a critical engagement crisis: 400 million users but only 3 minutes per day usage, versus X’s 5 hours 19 minutes per month
- This is a direct copy of GamePigeon’s strategy, which dominated iMessage for 8+ years by making games the reason teens stay on the platform
- In-message games boost retention 30%+ and work for super-apps (WeChat, LINE) or killer features (GamePigeon), but Threads isn’t positioned as either
- X and Bluesky lack built-in games, creating differentiation opportunity—but competing on features instead of content quality is the wrong strategy
Games won’t solve Threads’ content problem, but they might boost vanity metrics long enough to satisfy investors. The real question: can basketball mini-games turn a Twitter alternative into a destination platform? Meta’s betting on borrowed engagement tactics from a very different playbook.
