9to5 Mac reports that Facebook has today started rolling out its Instant Games service on Messenger. The feature, which is rolling out worldwide from today, enables Messenger user to play turn-based games with other Messenger users, including leaderboards and tournaments. Messenger Game Bots will provide various options and competitions.
Zynga’s Words With Friends is one of the games that has incorporated the new features, enabling players to invite others to play and take turns playing the word game. Blackstorm’s EverWing now has Game Bots that will help to make the game more competitive by outranking each other on the leaderboards.
By introducing these new Instant Games features, Facebook is directly taking on Apple’s iMessage app, and will be bringing iMessage apps games such as 8 Ball Pool to Messenger. And by creating its own in-app Messenger App Store, Facebook can both keep the Messenger users within the app, and also avoid the delays inherent in waiting for Apple to approve an app in its own App Store.
Source: Facebook goes head-to-head with iMessage in Instant Games rollout
