Go or No-Go on a 2D Casual Games Bet for Facebook: Strategy, Risks and Success Metrics

Facebook is weighing whether to build a 2D games offering. Would you recommend that it go ahead? Make a clear call and explain how you reached it. ```hint Find the edge first Before deciding, ask what Facebook could offer a casual player that the thousands of free games already in the app stores cannot, and who else inside Meta's business would feel the effects of the launch. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Does "2D" mean casual phone and web games (as opposed to Meta's VR games on Quest), or a specific format such as games that open directly inside the Facebook app and Messenger? - Would Facebook make its own games, or host games from outside developers on a Facebook surface? - Which goal should drive the decision: more engagement from younger users, new revenue, or more interaction between friends and Groups? - Should I build on the games Facebook already hosts today, or treat this as a new product? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A clear interpretation of "2D gaming product" and the Meta goal it would serve - The target users and their unmet need, set against a crowded casual-games market and Facebook's own earlier gaming efforts - Facebook's specific advantages weighed against the costs and risks to the rest of Meta's business - A decisive recommendation, including what the first version would and would not include - Success metrics, guardrails and a test plan with go and stop criteria that account for players inviting each other ### Follow-up Questions - If the pilot lifts game engagement but feed ad revenue among players falls, what do you do? - How would you design the experiment when players invite friends who may be in the control group? - What would change your recommendation if leadership cared mainly about revenue rather than younger users?