wraggster
April 20th, 2020, 15:24
Facebook will step up its presence in the game streaming space, with the launch of a new Facebook Gaming mobile app today.
According to The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/19/technology/facebook-app-gaming.html), Facebook had planned to release the app in June, but it has brought the launch forward in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fidji Simo, head of the Facebook app, said: "We're seeing a big rise in gaming during quarantine."
Facebook has a large community of users engaged in gaming -- 700 million of its 2.5 billion monthly users, according to the company -- and the new app will focus on streaming and watching live gameplay.
While it will include casual games and community features, the key function is called "Go Live," which lets the user upload streams of mobile games to Facebook quickly and easily.
That places it in a market dominated by Twitch, but which is increasingly competitive due to the rise of YouTube Gaming and Microsoft Mixer. Streamlabs' data (https://blog.streamlabs.com/streamlabs-newzoo-q4-year-in-review-live-streaming-industry-report-c1e6f32f3021) indicates the prominence of Twitch in 2019, and the telling absence of Facebook.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-04-20-new-facebook-gaming-app-to-focus-on-streaming
According to The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/19/technology/facebook-app-gaming.html), Facebook had planned to release the app in June, but it has brought the launch forward in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fidji Simo, head of the Facebook app, said: "We're seeing a big rise in gaming during quarantine."
Facebook has a large community of users engaged in gaming -- 700 million of its 2.5 billion monthly users, according to the company -- and the new app will focus on streaming and watching live gameplay.
While it will include casual games and community features, the key function is called "Go Live," which lets the user upload streams of mobile games to Facebook quickly and easily.
That places it in a market dominated by Twitch, but which is increasingly competitive due to the rise of YouTube Gaming and Microsoft Mixer. Streamlabs' data (https://blog.streamlabs.com/streamlabs-newzoo-q4-year-in-review-live-streaming-industry-report-c1e6f32f3021) indicates the prominence of Twitch in 2019, and the telling absence of Facebook.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-04-20-new-facebook-gaming-app-to-focus-on-streaming