Facebook takes aim at Twitch, YouTube, and Mixer
When it comes to streaming games and IRL content, there are quite a few players in the scene. You’ve got Twitch and YouTube, with Microsoft’s Mixer (Formerly Beam) also getting involved and attracting aspiring and veteran streams. Then there are the lesser known platforms such as Caffeine. So with all of them, you’d think there wouldn’t be any room for another player. Right? Well, Facebook doesn’t think so and they’ve officially tossed their hat into the game streaming arena. Get ready for Facebook gaming.
Now, this really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. They’ve been testing the waters for a while with their live streaming ability. And while it isn’t the best, I’ve heard many people using it and enjoying it. Facebook definitely wants a piece of the pie that Twitch, YouTube and to a certain extent, Mixer, has been enjoying. Thus they’re going to be aggressively pursuing this.
And I feel that they’ve taken their first major step on doing so. With this announcement of their game streaming service, they’ve also signed a deal with the CS:GO Pro League and the ESL One. Similar to what Twitch did with Overwatch, this means that Facebook will be the sole place to watch any of these events when they’re streamed. At least, they’ll be the official source.
“Livestreaming and watching others play games is a worldwide phenomena,” it wrote. “And when you combine the massive global community of gamers on Facebook, with the community-first format that gaming creators know how to cultivate, we together can shape a creator-first ecosystem on Facebook.”
Next was the announcement of their Gaming Creator Pilot Program. Here, you can sign up for the upcoming “Facebook Gaming” program, as well as checking out what they have to offer. In addition, Facebook has already signed multiple personalities to show off and hype up the platform. Faces such as StoneMountain64, Darkk Mane, Skydart and many others.
- Helping gaming creators build more meaningful and more engaged communities on Facebook than anywhere else
- Increasing discovery and distribution across multiple surfaces, including Facebook.com, Instagram and Oculus
- Supporting gaming creators with the types of tools they need to make a living streaming games on Facebook
- Building a platform where creators at every level have the opportunity to thrive
Currently, Facebook gaming can only output to 720p resolutions. But they plan on getting that bumped up to 1080p in the near future. As well as monetization options. Though I believe they’ve been promising this for live content creators on Facebook for a while now.
There’s a lot of work to be done, but we’re committed to building the fundamental architecture that gaming creators need to be successful, starting with foundational elements like enabling all creators in the program to livestream in 1080p/60fps. Most of all, with each new feature we add for gaming video, we’re committed to building it alongside our creators hand-in-hand.
That all said, Facebook could be on to something. Unlike most services, streamers on this platform would gain access to over 2 million Facebook subscribers. Definitely not a small number. However, it remains to be seen how this how this stacks up against the others. We’ll be detailing our experience if we’re accepted and in the upcoming weeks.
