Facebook has launched Instant Games, a new feature where you can play classic arcade games.
Pac-Man, Galaga, Space Invaders – some of the biggest arcade gaming titles by the biggest companies in the industry – are now available to play on Facebook.
On Tuesday, the social network unveiled a new feature called Instant Games that lets people play games on their news feeds and on the chat app Facebook Messenger, without installing any new apps.
If you have updated the Facebook app on your phone this week, you may have noticed Instant Games is available in your menu.
According to Facebook, Instant Games is a HTML5 cross-platform gaming experience on Messenger and Facebook News Feed for both mobile and web.
“This new games experience allows people to easily discover, share, and play games without having to install new apps,” Facebook said in its announcement on Tuesday.
In addition to Pac-Man, modern games like Zynga's Words with Friends: Frenzy and Shuffle Cats Mini, a game by King, maker of Candy Crush, will be available to play on Instant Games.
Right now, there are 17 games available, but Facebook wants game developers to add to the list.
Instant Games on Messenger
Instant Games on Messenger, which can be accessed through the new game controller icon just below where people type a message, offers a fun and social experience featuring score-based games, leaderboards, and group thread conversations to challenge and compete against anyone on Messenger.
Instant Games via Facebook News Feed
Instant Games can also be played on Facebook News Feed, enabling a seamless cross-platform experience where people can discover new games through recommendations, posts, challenges, and the Facebook Pages of individual games. A dedicated Instant Games bookmark is also available on Facebook where people can view and instantly replay all their favourite titles they previously enjoyed across both platforms.
Players have complete control of their gameplay experience — sharing scores only with the people they're playing with in Messenger.
Instant Games is currently available in 30 countries, including Australia, for iOS v8 or later and Android v5 or later.
Developing for Instant Games
Instant Games, launching in closed beta, opens up a unique opportunity for game developers to lower the friction for people to discover and instantly enjoy playing games without having to install new apps.
Using only one build that will run in web view, developers can easily deploy their Instant Games across multiple platforms to reach the 1.79 billion people on Facebook, as well as 1 billion people on Messenger.
Facebook News Feed posts also include the “Instant Play” call-to-action to help drive distribution and discovery of new games.
List of games available:
• Pac-Man (Bandai Namco Entertainment)
• Galaga (Bandai Namco Entertainment)
• Arkanoid (Taito Corporation)
• Space Invaders (Taito Corporation)
• Track & Field 100M (Konami Digital Entertainment)
• Words with Friends: Frenzy (Zynga)
• Shuffle Cats Mini (King)
• EverWing (Blackstorm)
• Hex (FRVR)
• Endless Lake (Spilgames)
• Templar 2048 (Vonvon)
• The Tribez: Puzzle Rush (Game Insight)
• 2020 Connect (Softgames)
• Puzzle Bobble (Taito Corporation / Blackstorm)
• Zookeeper (Kiteretsu)
• Brick Pop (Gamee)
• Wordalot Express (MAG Interactive)
What the launch partners said:
BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc: “We are excited to work with Facebook to feature two of our classic IP's, PAC-MAN and Galaga on the new Instant Games platform. To give the opportunity for our global fans to access these classic titles on mobile and web, we are working with Facebook to allow users to play Instant Games on Messenger and Facebook News Feed, both of which have significant reach around the world.”
Koichi Ishii, President at TAITO CORPORATION: “Back in 1978, the first game in the world which the enemy character attacks the player character was named, SPACE INVADERS. This new cross-platform gaming experience combined with us, one of the oldest game companies in the world, will create a new formula for all game fans. We are very happy and excited about this partnership to let game players around the world play SPACE INVADERS again.”
Kimihiro Horiuchi, Head of Global Marketing at Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd: “We believe this new cross platform gaming experience provides a new and unique discovery surface for our games and will delight and entertain our players around the world.”
Anatoly Ropotov, CEO at Game Insight: “Facebook, like Game Insight, has always placed tremendous importance on connecting with gamers wherever they are. And it’s becoming increasingly clear that the future of messaging apps is about much more than just chat and video. Messaging apps are a platform now; a blank canvas with a billion users waiting to see what comes next. Facebook's Instant Games expands that canvas even further, allowing for a wide range of gameplay experiences built from the ground up for the new consumption paradigm, and reachable in an instant.”
For more information, or if you’re a developer interested in learning how to onboard titles to Instant Games, head to the Facebook blog.
