Facebook seems to have taken gaming seriously. Having just launched their gaming platform, Gameroom with Unity, the social media giant has recently unveiled ‘Instant Games’ which will allow users to play games directly from their Messenger app or directly on their timeline.
“This new games experience allows people to easily discover, share, and play games without having to install new apps,” said Facebook, product manager, Alissa Ju in a blog post announcing the initiative.
Instant Games has launched in 30 countries with 17 games available including classics like Bandai Namco’s Pac-Man, Taito’s Space Invaders and even games from fairly new developers like Zynga’s Words with Friends and King Digital’s Shuffle Cats Mini.
This could be an effective move by Facebook to monetise Messenger, which has reached up to a sizable number of users.
However, global games partnerships at Facebook, director, Leo Olebe said, “The primary way that we expect people to be interacting with Instant Games is through Messenger, especially at first,” while further adding, “Right now it’s still early in the process, monetisation will come later down the road.”
So, that keeps native ads out of questions for now. The service will be available on new versions of Android and iOS phones. As the games are built on HTML5, they are supposed to load really quick, providing a seamless experience. The gameplay between the two players will not be simultaneous, but one by one, following a high-score pattern.
Here is the list of titles available now:
Galaga (Bandai Namco)
Pac-Man (Bandai Namco)
Space Invaders (Taito)
EverWing (Blackstorm)
Endless Lake (Spilgames)
Arkanoid (Taito)
Words With Friends Frenzy (Zynga)
Templar 2048 (Vonvon)
Shuffle Cats Mini (King)
Wordalot (MAG Interactive)
ZooKeeper (Kiteretsu)
Brick Pop (Gamee)
Hex FRVR (FRVR)
Bust-A-Move Blitz (Taito / Blackstorm)
2020 Connect (Softgames)
The Tribez: Puzzle Rush (Game Insight)
Track & Field 100M (Konami)