Monetization for Developers Coming to Instant Games on Messenger

Launched last year, Instant Games for Messenger started with over 20 games from several developers looking to allow people to easily discover, share and play games on Messenger. Since our launch, the platform continues to evolve with more games and features for developers to build flexible, rich gameplay. This includes leaderboards and tournament support, visually engaging and customizable game messages and CTA buttons, along with the option to introduce meaningful re-engagement capabilities with game bots.

Today, we’re kicking off the next phase of the Instant Games platform’s evolution by rolling out tests of interstitial and rewarded video ads with select game developers.

During this testing phase, Instant Games will use demand from Audience Network to deliver ads in-game and players can expect to see ads during gameplay sessions in titles such as Blackstorm’s Everwing and FRVR’s Basketball FRVR.

Rolling out initially with a small set of games allows us to test and learn the best ways for developers to integrate ads so they enhance the gaming experience while offering a path to monetization. Based on the results from these initial tests, we’ll begin to enable interstitial and rewarded video ads with additional developers over the coming weeks, as well as further optimize the ad platform. We will also unlock more developer tools for measurement and ad optimization. Opening these capabilities will eventually allow developers to generate revenue from their titles and invest more in further development.

At this time, we are also beginning initial testing of In-App Purchases.

As we start to test monetization, we are also making it easier for our closed beta developers to submit and launch games directly on the platform with a more robust toolset. Integrating additional monetization features and adding better tools are two critical components to have in place prior to opening the Instant Games platform more widely.

Instant Games is a closed beta platform for developer partners on Messenger for iOS, Android and News Feed.