Meta is betting that game creation is about to get much easier.
The company just rolled out Pocket to all US users. It’s Meta’s new game coding app for creating small interactive games, without any coding. Natural language- that’s the only thing you type, and AI constructs the playable version. You make adjustments when you need to and share it when you want.
The games are referred to as gizmos. These are called by Meta “mini experiences”, which can be touched, react to the way you hold your phone, include sound effects, and even include photos from your camera roll and clips from your favourite songs. They are not actual games, but bite-sized, interactive experiences that can be shared and played in a short time.
Last month, Pocket quietly rode the coattails of its successful rollout in Brazil. The app is actually based on tech that Meta acquired earlier this year with their hiring of the Gizmo team, which is a standalone vibe-coding platform developed by Atma Sciences. That original Gizmo application will now be discontinued as Meta will be bringing all of its content into Pocket.
It’s the social layer of Pocket that’s genius. No, a gizmo isn’t just a gizmo, and that is it. It is published to a scrollable feed. Other people find it, play it, remix it and repost it. But think TikTok, but mini-games instead of videos.
Meta is developing AI-creation tools for the mainstream. Previously, the company launched AI-generated images under the name of Meta AI. It introduced the app named Vibes for generating videos using AI. Now it’s Pocket’s turn to deal with a game! In short, it’s a company trying to make creativity more accessible in various formats while pushing the bar with AI.
The iOS and Android devices are crowded with AI-driven video games of all kinds and quality. It’s hard for users to navigate through them. The signal-to-noise ratio is very poor. Unlike other social media giants, Meta is offering a different solution to Pocket. Meta has developed a gaming platform that is social-first, rather than having to rely on external developers to upload their games. The games are in the same format as posts and published to feeds. They are found by users as they scroll. Quality control is achieved via community voting and engagement.
In a recent blog post, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg cited AI-powered development as the reason for the company’s rapid pace of app production. Recently, CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted that AI-powered development is the reason behind Meta’s quicker app production rate. Pocket is one of a new line of apps that have been released, like Instants, Forum and Seller. The company has been rolling out experimental features in a more rapid fashion due to the ease with which AI is testing and refining features.
At this time, Pocket is available only on iOS devices. Unfortunately, Android support is not yet available. That’s a restriction on participation for now, but Meta usually introduces new applications to both platforms in the long run. Users in the rest of the world will also soon be able to access the app. Pocket is a way of removing the technical hurdle to casual game creation and experimentation. Individuals with game concepts who don’t have any development expertise can really make and share something playable.
