You can now play game's on Facebook Messenger - Here's how
Facebook launched its new Instant Games platform in an exciting new attempt to engage its user base. As a result, you can now play a number of different games directly through Facebook Messenger. All of these games run with HTML5, meaning you play them right within Messenger -- there’s no need to install separate apps. While none of the games are multiplayer, you can still send screenshots of the leaderboards to lure your friends into some friendly competition.
As fun as this may all sound, getting started isn’t super clear. Let’s walk through the process step by step.
1. Make sure you’ve updated to the latest version of your device’s OS and the Messenger app.
Pretty self-explanatory, eh? The games probably won’t run very well, if at all, if you haven’t updated your preferred mobile gadget. And, if you want the games to appear at all, you’ll need to have the latest version of Facebook Messenger.
2. Start up a new convo or open an old one.
Yep, the one thing about Instant Games is that you’ll need to be chatting with your friends to get access. When you open the chat window, select the little video game controller icon and you’ll pull up a list of the wide variety of games available at the moment. If you’re on iOS, you may need to tap the three horizontal dots on the chat menu to get the controller to appear.
3. Challenge a friend
After that, all that’s left is to choose a game from the list and start playing. You won’t have to interact with your friends in the process if you don’t want to. Once you leave the game, though, you’ll have the option to challenge them to beat your score if you so choose.
It’s pretty easy to get set up once you know what to look out for. Regardless of Instant Gaming’s quiet introduction, Facebook’s new gaming platform is hoping to take off in a major way. We’ll have to see what the future has in store, but if the recent traffic in my Messenger app is anything to go off of, I’d say it’s quickly becoming a success.
What do you think of Instant Games so far? Love it? Hate it? Share in the comments below!