As major companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon jump into the gaming industry with game streaming services, Facebook has decided to join the fray too. Facebook has already dipped into the industry with the Oculus Rift VR headset and new Oculus Quest 2. However, while the other companies choose to stream major game titles, Facebook is sticking with free-to-play mobile games.
Facebook announced that the Facebook Gaming app will be launching its own cloud-based games through the company's primary Facebook app and browser. Facebook intends to capitalize on the potential of what cloud gaming has to offer for the company and its customers. The information comes from the company's VP of Play and former Co-Founder of Naughty Dog, Jason Rubin, who went on to provide more details on this new initiative by Facebook.
Facebook's cloud streamed games will be played straight from the company's own Gaming tab or the News Feed instead of a separate platform like Google Stadia, Microsoft's xCloud, or the new Amazon Luna, requiring no extra pay or accessories. The first set of cloud games will be mobile free-to-play games that come in the sports, racing, card, simulation, and strategy genres.
Facebook's first set of cloud-streamed games include:
- Asphalt 9: Legends by Gameloft
- Mobile Legends: Adventure by Moonton
- PGA Tour Golf Shootout by Concrete Software, Inc.
- Solitaire: Arthur's Tale by Qublix Games
- WWE SuperCard by 2K
- Dirt Bike Unchained by Red Bull which will be added in later weeks.
The Facebook Gaming app will also have interactive ads that allow players to try the games advertised right when they see them. Rubin stated these "latency-tolerant games" will be delivered across multiple devices as the beta gets underway and allows Facebook to increase the variety of games through an expansion in 2021. The games will be first be accessible to users in certain US states with compatible bandwidth: California, Texas and Northeast, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and West Virginia.
Facebook has plans to upscale regional access to cloud games once the company upscales its infrastructure to do so. The cloud gaming service will be funded through in-game purchases and other interactive ads based on the developer's choosing. Rubin first made a statement that Facebook isn't planning to over-promise or get ahead of itself with the new cloud games it's launching. He says the company doesn't intend to make a big show of what its cloud games will be able to do or over-sell it to customers and potential players either.
For the moment, Facebook's new cloud games will not be available on iOS devices due to Safari's technical limitations and Apple's current policies. Though Rubin notes there is a chance support will be added later down the line. Facebook isn't planning to replace current gaming platforms or be the next big thing in gaming, rather it only aims to increase the options for gaming. The company is keeping its expectations in check while exploring the potential of cloud gaming. Rubin admits that cloud gaming has a ways to go and Facebook acknowledges that, but it plans to commit with its own assortment of cloud games at a steady pace.
Source: Facebook