Facebook Launching New Gaming App for Streaming
Facebook is today launching a dedicated app for gaming. The company announced its new Facebook Gaming app, which will allow users to stream games on the Facebook Gaming platform.
The app was originally planned for a June launch, but with a recent increase in gaming due to the coronavirus pandemic, Facebook is launching the new app earlier than originally planned. The company’s new app is mainly focused on mobile devices, for now, reports The New York Times.
Facebook Gaming will be available for Android and iPhone devices sometime today. Users will be able to live stream games from their phone with the Go Live feature, and they can also share their streams to their personal Facebook accounts. Facebook has reportedly been testing the app for at least 18 months in some parts of the world.
Facebook says it’s focusing mainly on mobile devices because of the attention it gets from a user when compared to a desktop experience.
“We don’t want to be the background window in a Chrome tab while someone is doing their homework or doing something else,” said Vivek Sharma, Facebook’s vice president for gaming. “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’s new Gaming app does not have any advertising for now, but the company will allow streamers to earn money via “stars” that viewers can send. The social network will take a commission from that, of course. Facebook says the company is focused on growing its gaming audience before worrying about more ways to make money.
Facebook Gaming will have a lot of competition when it launches. With Twitch, YouTube Gaming, and Mixer already dominating the market, it will be difficult for Facebook’s new Gaming app to get much traction. But don’t be surprised if Facebook starts aggressively pushing the new app via its main Facebook app to get more users. Facebook said the company already has more than 700 million of its 2.5 billion monthly users engaged with its existing gaming content.