The social media giant Facebook has launched a new free-to-play daily sports prediction game Pick & Play Sports.
This marks the debut of the social media giant’s new Facebook Fantasy Games series in North America.
Facebook launches free-to-play prediction games
Earlier this month, Facebook announced the launch of its new free-to-play daily sports prediction game Pick & Play Sports, marking the debut of the Facebook Fantasy Games series.
Facebook Fantasy Games are a range of free prediction games that are designed to help fans enjoy sports, TV shows, and popular culture content together.
The games are available in the US and Canada and will allow players to compete in fantasy leagues and public leaderboards.
The Pick & Play Sports game, which was developed by Whistle Sports, gives fans the chance to earn points by predicting results and points scorers in major sporting events.
Another game, MLB Home Run Picks, is set to launch in the coming months. This game will allow fans to pick teams they think will hit the most home runs during the games for that day. The game will also allow to players to earn points during the MLB postseason based on correct predictions and whether teams hit grand slams or home runes.
Facebook will also offer LaLiga Winning Streak, another free-to-play game that will allow fans to predict which team will win in the Spanish football league for that day. Players will try to build the longest streak possible of correct predictions.
The social media giant also plans to launch prediction games based on TV shows live ABC’s The Bachelorette and CBS’s Survivor.
A Facebook spokesperson said: “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 more seasoned players.
“In addition to public leaderboards, players can create their own fantasy league and compete against friends and other fans. Leagues, which can be public or private, will allow members to compare scores to others in the league and provide a place for members to share picks, reactions and comments.”
Is Facebook looking at sports betting?
With the launch of Facebook’s new fantasy sports games, the social media giant has entered the fantasy sports scene.
Although Facebook has no plans to enter the sports betting scene, the launch of fantasy games could be used to test the waters around the betting vertical.
These fantasy and predictor-style games have proven to be an effective way to acquire real-money gambling customers.
Several large US media properties have a predictor game that feeds into a real-money sportsbook product. These include Fox Sports’ Super 6 for Fox Bet and the NBC Sports Predictor for PointsBet.
If Facebook’s games are a hit this could lead to the social media giant generating a massive database of potential sports betting customers.