Meta will let you build games with AI prompts on your phone

Meta has announced two new tools for building games on its Horizon platform. The company presented Horizon Create, a mobile app, and Horizon Studio, a browser app that offers more granular controls. Both are entering early access, and interested users can already sign up for a waitlist.

A game from a prompt

According to Meta's blog post, the tools let creators "turn any idea into a complete 2D or 3D mobile game, complete with progression systems, balanced difficulty, art direction, multiplayer, and more, then refine every element to their standards."

Horizon launched as a VR app, but the company recently pivoted to a primarily mobile focus, and AI is becoming a bigger part of the platform as well, in line with Meta's wider strategy.

Facebook and Instagram as a distribution channel

The bigger change concerns distribution. Meta says games published with Horizon Create and Horizon Studio will be recommended on Facebook and Instagram, where they will also be playable without downloading a separate app.

"Someone scrolling through Instagram can tap a clip of your game and be in a multiplayer session within seconds, without needing to download an app or being redirected," the company says. "Your game lives natively in the feeds where people already discover content and connect with friends."

Reach will not be equal: games that are "engaging, stable, culturally relevant, and keep players coming back" will be promoted more actively.

The Roblox comparison

The announcement lands as Roblox, a similar but far more popular platform, pushes into AI-powered development as well. Its mobile app already includes a feature that generates games from a prompt.

Scale remains the main difference. Roblox has 123 million daily active users, while Horizon has never really taken off: The Verge reported in early 2022 that it reached 300,000 monthly users.

The Verge's Jay Peters writes that he is skeptical that a mass of AI-generated games will be as engaging as a handcrafted experience. Still, titles made in Create and Studio should at least have the elements of a video game, unlike Google's Project Genie, which produces brief but empty interactive experiences.