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Three month Facebook Instant Games review pause coming to an end

Social network giant implements new application process

Three month Facebook Instant Games review pause coming to an end

Facebook is to end a three month-plus review pause on the Instant Games platform following a change to its submission procedures.

Back on April 19th the company told developers that it had found an issue with the submission process for Instant Games and would therefore temporarily halt reviews.

On June 4th it updated the community that it had fixed the main issue but would be making platform updates and improvements “with a focus on game quality and platform integrity”. As a result, there was still a freeze on reviews.

Welcome return

Today the company has announced that in the coming days it will be implementing a new application process for new developers to submit their games.

Studios will now need to complete a business verification form and submit their Apple Developer team ID prior to submission. Previously, games could be submitted for review prior to this.

Developers already on the platform will not need to re-apply. New developers who have been awaiting review will need to first go through these new procedures.

While Facebook will start approving games for release again, it asked for patience as it goes through a backlog of game submissions.

News that reviews are once again resuming comes as Facebook announced it would be fully migrating Instant Games off of Messenger and onto the social network.

The future of chat app gaming will be a big topic of conversation at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2019 on October 1st and 2nd, which will host a Hyper-casual and Instant Messenger track.


Head of Content

Craig Chapple is a freelance analyst, consultant and writer with specialist knowledge of the games industry. He has previously served as Senior Editor at PocketGamer.biz, as well as holding roles at Sensor Tower, Nintendo and Develop.