Facebook Gaming Adds Two Pokemon Exclusives To Remind People It Exists

A lot of gaming news of late has been grabbed either by Google Stadia or the Xbox Series X. Those, of course, aren't the only game in town, pardon the pun, and it's unsurprising to see some getting a tad jealous for some attention. Perhaps to help make a splash, Facebook is riding the Pokemon wave by announcing two new Pokemon titles that you can play on and only on Facebook, reminding both users and gamers that Facebook Gaming is still a thing.

To be fair, Facebook helped kick off what would eventually be mobile gaming. Flash-based games on the social network pulled in people who would probably never have associated themselves with games at all, creating a class of casual yet completely addictive games. It may also be the one that started IAPs and annoying friend invitations.

Facebook relaunched its gaming-related efforts with Facebook Gaming, initially more as a competitor to Twitch and Discord, offering Facebook users a social hub for gaming. It also offered an Instant Games platform what The Pokemon Company has utilized to create two new casual games for Facebook.

Pokémon Tower Battle is almost like the reverse Tetris where you actually want to build up a stack using Pokemon you collect. Which Pokemon you put where will determine whether your tower will rise or fall. Pokémon Medallion Battle, on the other hand, is basically a collectible card game except using digital medallions instead of cards.

The launch of these two games marks the first time The Pokemon Company licensed any game to run on Facebook Gaming and is probably the highest-profile franchise there as well. Facebook perhaps hopes this will turn into a flood of Pokemon fans rushing to play the games on its platform but, as Android proves, that doesn't always turn out to be the case.