Important Changes to Web Games and Instant Games on Facebook

At Meta, we are continuously evolving our gaming platform to ensure it remains robust, secure, and provides the best environment for games to thrive and grow. In line with this commitment, we're excited to announce the general availability of Network Enabled Zero Permissions and the accompanying Instant Games SDK API v8.0. Zero Permissions is a new Instant Games connection experience that allows for rich social experiences in games while limiting data sharing outside of Meta.

By limiting user information that is shared outside of Meta, this enables several key benefits for players and developers:

1. For players, a smoother Zero Permissions experience means users can now launch and enter games without initial loading blockers after setting their default preferences. These players are then able to try more games on the platform with less friction.
2. For developers, removing loading blockers for players leads to ~2x as many players successfully passing the loading step, resulting in more effective featuring and paid user acquisition campaigns, with some integrations showing up to a +70% increase in daily engagement. Moreover, there are reduced compliance burdens for games that have reduced data sharing as a result of the Zero Permissions integration.

Our vision has always been to help our users strengthen & form connections through games and to invest in capabilities that attract the best games to our platform by enabling game developers to effectively grow their business. Zero Permissions is the next foundational step in realizing our vision.

To ensure consistent experiences for all players and developers, and to shift from maintaining fragmented infrastructure to improving a unified Zero Permissions platform, all existing Instant and Web Games on Facebook will be required to migrate to Instant Games with Zero Permissions, and Web Games will sunset by September 30, 2026 (Pacific time).

Why this evolution for Web Games on Facebook?

Web Games are built on foundational technology dating back to 2007, and significant advancements in platform performance and security since then present exciting opportunities for growth:

1. Enhanced platform reliability, leading to an improved experience for end users and streamlined maintenance.
2. Opportunities to bridge functionality gaps with Instant Games, including paid user acquisition, notifications, discoverability, and ability to target mobile users on FB and Messenger.

Ultimately, migrating means protecting and securing your games’ revenue into the future, and a confluence of factors makes now the right time to make this change:

1. We have a growing body of successfully migrated games as case studies.
2. We have enabled mobile in-app purchase (IAP) parity across FB mobile apps, enabling unified IAP monetization strategies for Instant Games.

What does this mean if you have a live Web Game on Facebook?

We understand this is a big change for existing Web Games on Facebook. Existing Web Games may continue operating as normal until September 30, 2026. After this date, these games will no longer be available on Facebook unless they have been migrated to Instant Games with Zero Permissions.

To facilitate a smooth transition, we have enhanced our platform with new capabilities:

1. Seamless App ID migration: Web Games can migrate to Instant Games with the same App ID. This enables users to maintain the same entry points (e.g. bookmarks, shortcuts) for launching the game, enabling retention of the existing user base without interruption.
2. Granular Rollout Control: We have new migration tooling to provide granular control over rollout percentages, allowing developers to migrate at the pace they are most comfortable.
3. Cross Play Support: We have enabled limited support for cross play between a FB Instant Game and a Native Game so migrated Web Games may continue to leverage the expanded player base across platforms.

For more information, review our migration documentation.

What does this mean if you have a live Instant Game on Facebook?

Existing Instant Games created on or before July 31st (whether in dev mode or live) leveraging the standard connection experience may continue using the standard connection experience until September 30, 2026. After this date, these games will be required to use the Zero Permissions connection experience to remain available on Facebook.

What does this mean if you want to submit a new game on Facebook?

With this launch, all new Instant Games created on August 1, 2025 and after will be required to select and integrate with Zero Permissions as the connection experience, and the standard connection experience that shows the blocking permissions screen to new users will no longer be available.

For inquiries about this announcement, please click "Ask a Question" at Direct Support and choose "NEZP Games Migration" from the Topic dropdown menu. Please note that only businesses with apps affected by this change will have access to support.

With many exciting changes on the horizon, we are committed to the continued success of games on Facebook. By consolidating our gaming platform, all games stand to gain from enhanced discovery, lower friction for users to start playing, reduced compliance burdens, improved documentation and support, and a more streamlined process to onboard and maintain Instant Games.