Meanwhile, Match Group, which owns Tinder, Hinge and other dating apps, has seen mixed results for its apps. Along with Bumble, which offended many with a disastrous advertising campaign Earlier this year (the company He apologized), large applications have Lost $40 billion in market value since 2021. Bumble reported 10 percent year-over-year revenue growth, and also updated your appWhile Tinder grew 1 percent in revenue and Hinge grew nearly 50 percent year over year, according to MatchBut if Hinge, Bumble and Tinder are the crowded, noisy singles bars of online dating, these smaller apps are the quieter coffee shops or running clubs. There may be fewer people, but they are more likely to start from a place where singles have something in common.
The goblin of quotes The model could offer a novel approach that appeals to lonelier users, says Jess Carbino, a former in-house sociologist at Bumble and Tinder. “It could be an incredible resource for people who are more shy or hesitant to meet in person,” she says. She also wonders whether the low-intensity aspect of game-based dating could make interaction easier and cause people to put off meeting in person.
Keeney notes that early users of Date Like Goblins’ beta include people who are neurodivergent, immunocompromised, or introverted, who may feel more comfortable meeting someone by doing an activity rather than sitting face-to-face over a drink or coffee. She created the app, she says, partly in response to frustration she felt with traditional apps that their persona might be hidden behind a paywall or obscured by an algorithm that can’t detect what would connect them. People can choose to try to meet singles closer to their physical location or find people around the world, she says.
To better showcase someone’s personality, the suggestions on Date Like Goblins encourage more detailed profiles than a typical slick dating app bio. Some are quirky, such as: “Would you rather live in a world where every song is by Pitbull or live in a world where the only song is Pitbull’s ‘Fireball’ but every artist performs it?” (Choose wisely: the answer to that It really says something about whether or not you can handle spending the rest of your life with someone.)
Still, Carbino says she’s not sure whether niche apps can really disrupt the dating process — they may not address “the fundamental problems that most people looking for a partner face,” she says. Mostly, it’s burnout and difficulty finding a quality match. “They go on the apps,” she says. “They go on them for a while, and before the algorithms have a chance to learn about them, they leave the apps and feel demoralized.”
As a result, dating apps bear the brunt of the criticism. But they are performing a function that was previously relegated to our broader institutions and social structures, Carbino says, such as schools, churches, family and friends: making it possible for us to meet someone to fall in love with. If people couldn’t find love through their community, would they blame those around them in the same way they do the apps?
Perhaps the gaming aspect of Date Like Goblins can tap into that sense of community. Many people have already met friends or partners by playing online games, Keeney says. He hopes his app can provide a “simple, pressure-free way to connect with people” online, for those eagerly seeking a romantic partner or more friends. “If this is happening by accident,” he says, “imagine if we made it possible on purpose.”
