Facebook ‘Instant Games’ Platform For Messenger Goes Global
Are you addicted to Words with Friends or Pac-Man? Now you can play the games directly in Facebook Messenger. Facebook just announced that it will be rolling out its “Instant Games” platform for Messenger worldwide.
Facebook introduced Instant Games this past November in the United States. The program primarily brought retro games like Galaga to Facebook Messenger. Instant Games is a HTML5-based cross-platform gaming experience, and can be accessed through traditional web browsers, the mobile web, and apps. According to Facebook, Instant Games were played 1.5 billion times in the past 90 days.
Instant Games also now supports play-by-play games instead of single-player games with a leaderboard. Friends can now not only play against each other, but chat while they wait for the next move. One of the most popular game apps of all time, Zynga’s Words With Friends, will be available in Instant Games.
Facebook recently introduced “Game Bots” as well. Game Bots will communicate with the player about new rewards, levels, and gaming experiences. According to Facebook, “Game bots help re-engage players by calling out new game options and encouraging competition with updates on the leaderboards.” Blackstorm’s EverWing was one of the first to use bots for this kind of experience and has been incredibly successful.
Depending on a user’s device and location, there will be up to fifty games available on Messenger. Facebook plans to add new games every week, including Miniclip’s 8 Ball Pool. The games are free to download and there are currently no in-app purchases. It is currently unclear if Facebook will maintain this structure or begin to include branded games.
Facebook hopes that Instant Games will reach Messenger’s over 1.2 billion users. The announcement come as Facebooks desktop gaming platform has slowly been in decline. Instant Games for Messenger will roll out over the next few weeks worldwide for iOS and Android.
Facebook introduced Instant Games this past November in the United States. The program primarily brought retro games like Galaga to Facebook Messenger. Instant Games is a HTML5-based cross-platform gaming experience, and can be accessed through traditional web browsers, the mobile web, and apps. According to Facebook, Instant Games were played 1.5 billion times in the past 90 days.
Instant Games also now supports play-by-play games instead of single-player games with a leaderboard. Friends can now not only play against each other, but chat while they wait for the next move. One of the most popular game apps of all time, Zynga’s Words With Friends, will be available in Instant Games.
Facebook recently introduced “Game Bots” as well. Game Bots will communicate with the player about new rewards, levels, and gaming experiences. According to Facebook, “Game bots help re-engage players by calling out new game options and encouraging competition with updates on the leaderboards.” Blackstorm’s EverWing was one of the first to use bots for this kind of experience and has been incredibly successful.
Depending on a user’s device and location, there will be up to fifty games available on Messenger. Facebook plans to add new games every week, including Miniclip’s 8 Ball Pool. The games are free to download and there are currently no in-app purchases. It is currently unclear if Facebook will maintain this structure or begin to include branded games.
Facebook hopes that Instant Games will reach Messenger’s over 1.2 billion users. The announcement come as Facebooks desktop gaming platform has slowly been in decline. Instant Games for Messenger will roll out over the next few weeks worldwide for iOS and Android.
