Instant Alert: Facebook opens up its Instant Games platform to all developers

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Facebook opens up its Instant Games platform to all developers

by Rayna Hollander on Mar 16, 2018, 10:48 AM

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Facebook is opening up its Instant Games platform to all developers after being in closed beta for nearly 18 months, the company announced on Wednesday. Instant Games are HTML5-based games that can be launched from within the Messenger and Facebook chat apps, eliminating the need to download a game or be redirected from Facebook's properties.

Usage of Instant Games is poised to pick up as more become available to consumers — although there are currently fewer than 200 Instant Games available, Facebook found that over 1.5 billion games had been played on Instant Games within a 90-day window in April 2017.

Alongside the public launch, Facebook unveiled a host of features that could incentivize developers to build Instant Games:

An Ads API to help developers monetize. Facebook began experimenting with interstitial and rewarded video ads on Messenger for select Instant Games developers in October, and has since made the feature available to all developers. Providing Instant Games developers with the ability to derive revenue from their apps could encourage more developers to create Instant Games and to build higher-quality, engaging games to generate additional ad revenue.
Ads Optimization and Measurement tools to help developers measure the performance of Instant Games. Facebook unveiled its Monetization Manager, a central hub designed for controlling monetization and performance with Audience Network, Facebook's mobile ad machine. Providing developers with the tools to analyze their Instant Games could help to facilitate improvements and maximize potential revenue.
Cross-promoting and deep linking to aid discovery of Instant Games. Facebook launched the Game Switch API to enable developers to cross-promote new games or game updates to users playing their games across the Instant Games platform. Developers can also create deep links, which can funnel users to developers' games located outside of Facebook's properties, like their websites.

If Facebook can push Messenger as a gaming platform, it could pull users away from the iOS App Store and Google Play. The ability to download and launch apps within chat apps means users can bypass an app store, effectively turning chat apps into mobile operating systems. This could present a threat to revenue generation for both the App Store and Google Play, particularly in the casual and social gaming categories.

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