Facebook
On Wednesday, Facebook Fantasy Games debuted on iOS
Facebook bills the games as "simpler" takes on traditional fantasy sports games, with some games also focused on reality TV shows like "Survivor" or the "Bachelorette."
"These games bring the social fun of traditional fantasy sports to simpler formats that are easy to play for people new to prediction games, while still engaging enough for seasoned players," said the company in a statement.
The first game to launch, Pick & Play Sports, allows you to bet on the winners of any big games taking place that day. Making correct bets allows you to advance up leaderboards both public and private. All the fantasy games Facebook plans to launch fall under this simple premise.
In an interview with Sportico, Facebook Sports Media and League Partnerships director Robert Shaw stressed that the company has "no aspirations to make this into a betting product," and that it has "no intent to put payments attached to this."
These fantasy games' non-monetary and straightforward nature seems deliberate, as Facebook likely wants to recruit as many potential players as possible. Engagement with the Facebook app has all but flatlined. As such, the social media giant has pushed hard into gaming to compete with apps like TikTok, which last year overtook Facebook in terms of user engagement for the first time, according to App Annie.
In July, the company sidestepped the App Store to launch its own cloud gaming service. It also runs "Facebook Gaming" a streaming platform that runs like much more popular Twitch
Despite Facebook's insistence that no betting will be involved, its entry into the field could still have significant implications for the sports booking industry, according to Mario Stefanidis, VP of Research at Roundhill Investments, whose firm runs the Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF
"Facebook's foray into fantasy gaming and sports is really exciting for the entire sector," he told Benzinga. "While Facebook Fantasy Games is currently free and intended to appeal to a much more casual audience, the offering is going to introduce an entirely new demographic into the space."
- 1.https://about.fb.com/news/2021/09/introducing-facebook-fantasy-games/
- 2.https://www.howtogeek.com/752915/facebook-just-added-fantasy-sports-and-culture-games/
- 3.https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/1/22652826/facebook-fantasy-games-prediction-sports-tv-shows-ios-android
- 4.https://www.benzinga.com/news/21/09/22766893/facebook-launches-daily-fantasy-games-could-the-company-launch-sports-betting-and-igaming-soon
- 5.https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/01/facebook-enters-the-fantasy-gaming-market/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAgpDQyiwvzmsOjtZUijbzKzlL_tYLZpIsMFCtHWvzfYk_Sdw0KXBmLWkR4NMT6h3Geu07z-7XMqlxuQ7fsnktFldkdObkWS7E2XuChgBvLFDMXXJlx9sKLjIf0AQTtGWFDZQcCdhPckXEbkD2gs2a21HA94Vlugz8nRHszNXgJG