Sep 12: Facebook launched gaming for its users back in 2018. It was a competing product against YouTube, Twitch and Mixer. Later, in 2020 an app was launched for smartphones to fight against Twitch and YouTube platforms; Facebook Gaming worked on a creator program. In addition, it worked to introduce various features like the co-streaming ability for the players. In the same year, Facebook absorbed Mixer in an effort to become a dominant leader in the gaming industry.

The Rise Of Facebook Gaming App

During the pandemic, Facebook’s gaming app gave tough competition to its competitor. Not only did the streaming hours increase, but even the viewership also increased tremendously too. It was common for content creators to show new tactics for winning a game. For instance, many creators used Auto Clicker to cross multiple levels in casual games. At the same time, Twitch was not performing well. The performance of the Facebook gaming app was such that it shows a huge potential in size and scope.

In the third quarter of 2021, the viewership of Facebook gaming was close to 1.29 billion hours, whereas it was 1.13 billion hours for YouTube gaming. However, the winner was Twitch which had a total of 5.79 billion hours. While analyzing the data, it became evident that Facebook gaming was the only platform that showed actual improvement in viewership compared to the other two platforms.

Features Of Facebook Gaming App

To offer its users the best experience, Facebook rolled out plenty of impressive features like co-streaming. Using this feature, the players could stream videos together, for instance, after downloading a game from TapTap. Even though a similar feature was available on Twitch, it was reserved for content creators with a vast fan following.

Additionally, it offered the users to use certain background music during the streaming. This streaming was possible without copyright issues. This was a problem that was very prevalent on Twitch. It also includes diversity in its platform with the Black Gaming Creator Program. Basically, it wanted to create a welcoming space for all.

It also took care of the harassment that generally takes place with the content creator. It is because, unlike Twitch, it requires the users to have both the first and the last name. It makes it a little bit difficult for the users to spam and bully other content creators. Even though Facebook was doing its best to give its users a good experience, perhaps, it was not enough. It is the reason why the gaming app is shutting down.

The Shutdown Of Facebook Gaming App

In August this year, Facebook sent a notice to its gaming app users. The news stated that after 28th October 2022, the Facebook gaming app for smartphones, which includes iOS and Android, will no longer be available. Facebook did not provide any media explanation behind this decision. Despite the shutdown of the apps, the web-based Facebook streaming platform will still keep working. Both Facebook and streamers invested a lot in the gaming platform.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Facebook Gaming became popular like many other gaming platforms. However, after that, gamers’ hours on the platform started to reduce drastically. In fact, compared to YouTube Gaming and Facebook Twitch, Facebook Gaming had the least number of watched hours this year in both the first and the second quarters.

The Problem With Facebook Gaming

Even though there was no official statement from Facebook, it is believed that the closure of Facebook Gaming resulted from cost-cutting in the company. Also, reports indicated that the platform of Facebook Gaming is filled with pirated content and spam as a gaming lives stream. Even though Facebook was looking into it to improve the user experience, it seems like it failed to do so.

Also, this is not the first Facebook product witnessing a closedown. Previously, it closed its live shopping, podcast, and digital wallet. All these closures are assumed to result from an effort to improve the country’s financial security by cutting down costs.

The closure of the Facebook gaming app might also be an attempt by Facebook to make its service more streamlined. General Facebook can offer services like Facebook gaming. Therefore, there is no use in spending more resources in a dedicated app. This move is similar to YouTube. Even YouTube had a dedicated gaming platform; however, soon, it closed down the app. Thankfully, the web version will still be available, and it is only the gaming app that is discontinued.