The Android users can use the service of Facebook Gaming already since the 2020. By the way, it comes from a few days ago the new that, finally, even the Apple users will do. But it does through a web app and, so, bypassing the strict rules of the App Store. Let’s discover together what’s and how does it work and how the Apple users will use it.
Facebook Gaming: what’s it
The app of Facebook Gaming arrived on Android already last years and who is using learnt how to use it already. It’s a separate section of the normal social network where there are all the contents about the games.
In this section Facebook makes available all the things about the mini games of Facebook, the communities of gamers and the pages dedicated to the videogames.
Here we can find, for example, many directs and gameplay, maybe it would like to challenge the phenomenona of Twitch.
Anyway, the one of the Facebook Gaming isn’t a defined platform like the one of Twitch yet. But we can find a lot of directs of casual gamers, but even of many professional streamers.
Already with the promotional message we understand how Facebook wants to challenge Twitch: “let’s start with friends and relatives, then watch how your stream grows while your build your own community”.
But in this section we can even find, like we said, the instant games of Facebook, like NameTests, Know Your Friends or OMG.
Facebook Gaming, therefore, is even focused ont he most famous social mobile friends, that are already around for a few years on the social network itself, like Farmville or Criminal Case.
Facebook and the investment in the sector of the videogames
“to invest in this sector is a priority for us, because we see the games as an entertainment way that really connects people”, explains Fidji Simo, head of Facebook Gaming.
The purpose is always the same one, bring the users on its own platform and being able to keep them as long as possible. To do it the company invested in some streamers which were already famous on other platforms of stream, like Twitch, but even Youtube.
Facebook Gaming doesn’t record the same numbers of the other platforms yet. To reach them it will need a lot of economic resources and much more. But if there is someone that has that resources, without any doubt that’s Facebook.
Why Facebook Gaming didn’t arrive on iOS yet?
Facebook Gaming was late to reach even the iOS users and the reason must be found in the legal fight beetween Apple and Epic Games, of the last summer.
The politics of the App Store of Apple are very stricter and Epic Games was cut down, as well as many other platforms of game.
But that’s not the only conflict that involves Apple and Facebook. The two colossus, infact, are even arguing about something else: the restrictive policy about the privacy introduced on iOS 14.5. These rules forced the colossus of the social network to review its policy about the datas tracking.
So the only way that Facebook had to reach the users iOS was through a web app.
Facebook Gaming and the web app
With a web app we pass through the browser and not through the store. In this way they can easily pass by the rules of the App Store. Facebook Gaming isn’t the first one to use this trick of the web app to avoid the strict policies of Apple.
“We did the same of others: at the moment the web apps are the only option for the streaming of games cloud on iOS.
As well as many other said the policy to allow the games cloud on the App Store ends up to not allow nothing. Apple asks to any game of a cloud library to have its own page, to pass through the process of review and to individually appear in the research lists: all of it nullifies the purpose of the cloud game.
These blocks avoid to the players to discover new titles, playing on more devices and instantly access to high quality games in the apps native iOS, even for the ones that don’t use the most recent and expensive devices”, explains Vivek Sharma, Vice President of Facebook Gaming.
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