Meta launches AI virtual pet game Waddle World in the Philippines
Meta has released Waddle World, an AI-powered virtual pet game that lets users care for a pet and chat with it through diary entries. The launch matters as another example of Meta using playful, cute experiences to bring people into contact with its AI tools, though the game is currently available only in the Philippines.
Players hatch a pet, feed and play with it, and write or dictate journal entries; the AI pet replies with text and an illustrated doodle. Mini-games let players earn points to buy food and toys, and the app’s store listings indicate it first appeared in late September. Meta has not explained the limited launch, which may be a trial ahead of wider availability; the company is also planning an egg-shaped AI companion device for release in December.
In short
- Meta has launched an AI virtual pet game called Waddle World.
- Players can journal with a pet that replies with text and doodles.
- The game is currently available only in the Philippines.
Explained simply
Meta is a technology company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. It has also been building AI tools that can answer questions and create text or images, and it has introduced them in different products and services.
Virtual pet games let people look after a digital animal by feeding it and playing with it. AI can make the pet respond to what a person writes, giving the game a conversational element. Meta’s other planned AI companion device reflects wider interest in bringing AI into everyday interactions.
The Philippines-only availability leaves open whether the game is being tried in one market before a broader release; Meta has not explained the limit. How companies introduce these playful AI features matters as they look for ways to make their tools part of people’s daily lives.
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Originally published by Engadget as “Meta’s Waddle World is a Tamagotchi-like AI pet app”.