Facebook wants to morph into a live game streaming platform; here’s why

Over 380 million people play games on Facebook every month, and 200 million people watch other people play video games. If you combine these numbers, there are more users than the EU population.

This is exactly why Facebook is keen to transform its social media application into a live game streaming platform. This new approach not only brings new users, but also helps create the largest gaming community on the planet. “This [game] itself is a core area. It’s not like a branch of entertainment strategy. It satisfies entertainment use cases, but if you look at it from a broader perspective, games are fundamentally a unique use case,” Facebook India Manish Chopra, director and head of partnerships, told indianexpress.com before the company’s first game event in India. Country, starting from Tuesday.

Chopra said that in recent years, Facebook has increased its efforts to understand how its users play games and what creators expect from the social media giant. “Facebook is a very natural and very logical extension of gamers coming together to create these communities,” he said. Facebook does not compete with console manufacturers or PC games. Instead, it wants casual gamers to play the game and watch other people play the game without downloading the game. It’s like watching a live sports show or reality show, but it’s a video game. Watching others play your favorite video games while adding humor and jokes is just another form of entertainment. “A lot of Facebook use is accidental…you usually don’t open Facebook for a very specific purpose,” he said, adding that games are also discovered accidentally.

For Chopra, the first task is to increase viewing time and the amount of content provided by Facebook games. “Games have become more widespread and are not limited to AAA games played by a small group of gamers,” Chopra emphasized why Facebook Gaming is attracting a new user base, who see video games as an interactive form of entertainment and less so Hardcore. But Facebook’s greater focus on turning its social apps into a video game streaming platform has to do with India. With more than 340 million Facebook users in India alone, the social media giant sees an opportunity to increase the number of new users using its platform through Facebook Gaming.

In fact, in July and August this year, India recorded more than 234 million game sessions on Facebook, making the country the third largest game session market. Almost all of these are provided by young users, which is also very helpful.

News Source : The Indian Express