Microsoft Groups now helps you to problem colleagues to a recreation of Minesweeper or Solitaire • TechCrunch

With distant or hybrid work going nowhere any time quickly, Microsoft right now introduced new social gaming performance inside its Groups productiveness and collaboration platform.

Accessible to Groups Enterprise and Schooling subscribers solely, the brand new “Video games for Work” app permits colleagues to problem one another to a recreation of Minesweeper, Wordament, Icebreaker, and even Solitaire, a basic card recreation acquainted to anybody who has used Home windows from 1990 onwards.

Microsoft mentioned that every recreation — together with Solitaire, which by its very definition is a solo recreation — has a multiplayer choice for as much as 250 gamers, with added assist for these solely wishing to spectate. And provided that the video games are solely accessible for paying Groups subscribers, no adverts are included.

The brand new app was developed by an Xbox Video games Studio known as Microsoft Informal Video games.

Whereas baking video games into what’s ostensibly a enterprise product for most individuals may appear counterintuitive, the logic is sound sufficient: workmates have lengthy engaged in video games socially at work, whether or not it’s desk tennis or a recreation of playing cards throughout lunch. For distant staff, that need to attach and work together competitively is definitely nonetheless there.

“Video games promote creativity, collaboration and communication in highly effective and distinctive methods, and we are able to’t wait to see the how the Video games for Work app on Microsoft Groups evokes productiveness and helps foster connections within the office,” famous Jill Braff, common supervisor of integrations and informal video games at Microsoft, in a weblog publish.

The Video games for Work app integrates with Groups on desktop and cell, with Microsoft including that it plans to add new video games sooner or later.