Facebook Games is a new video game streaming app, the company will now offer a better option to stream and share their content, in order to compete with Twitch, YouTube and Mixer. The app is now available today for Android, and will be soon be available on iOS. The app will feature the ‘Go Live’ function that will allow users upload streams of mobile games on the same device.
The app will be available for free and will try to leverage their 2.5 billion users, who are active gamers on the platform or, are engaged with gaming content. The main purpose of Facebook Gaming is, to create, share and watch live gameplay. The service was already available on some countries, mostly in South America and Asia, the results of the test where positive and Facebook has decided to, launch the app earlier than planned.
“Investing in gaming in general has become a priority for us because we see gaming as a form of entertainment that really connects people,” said Fidji Simo, head of the Facebook app, who reports to the Silicon Valley company’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg. “It’s entertainment that’s not just a form of passive consumption but entertainment that is interactive and brings people together.”
Originally scheduled for a launch on June, the app is launching earlier trying to capitalize of gamers who are bored due to social distancing protocols. Vivek Sharma, Facebook’s vice president for gaming reveals what is Facebook is trying to accomplish with a dedicated app.
“We don’t want to be the background window in a Chrome tab while someone is doing their homework or doing something else,” Mr. Sharma said. “With mobile, if you have the app open and you’re using the app, it’s in the foreground. You can’t do anything else on your mobile phone, and that is extremely powerful.”
Facebook is no stranger to entertain people via videogames, a decade ago, FarmVille was revolutionary for the ways it was easily approachable to all users of the social network. Facebook Gaming will just make streaming much easier for content creators and their audience. According to reports, Facebook is already a dominant platform for streaming, ranked as the third preferred option.
Source: NYT
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