Doodle Draw is Facebook Messenger’s first in-app game

Asian apps like Line and WeChat are far more than just messaging services, they’ve become more like the smartphone equivalent of Swiss Army knives, offering everything from mobile payments to in-app games. Considering how successful both of these services have been, Facebook has been trying to emulate them with its own Messenger app, first with the addition of stickers, and now with an in-app game 

Facebook Messenger’s quest to own all the ways you connect with friends is now expanding to games. Today I spotted “Doodle Draw Game” in the Messenger platform app list, and Facebook says this is the first true game available since the platform launched in April. Initially, Facebook only allowed content creation apps like GIF and sound effect makers on the Messenger Platform. The closest thing to a game was Talking Tom, which lets you choose a cartoon avatar to deliver your video message. But before the platform’s launch, sources told me Facebook was interested in eventually expanding it to a broader set of experiences including utilities and games if test data looked good. Last month The Information reported Facebook was actively considering how games would fit in Messenger. Facebook tells me “Currently, we think Messenger Platform is best suited for apps that focus on content creation and curated content. But, one of the reasons we were excited to announce at F8 that Messenger Platform is open to all developers is to see what people build. From there, we’ll think about what else might make sense.”