Facebook Cloud gaming sees 1.5 mn users a month, expanding to more regions

Over 1.5 million people are playing cloud-streamed games on Facebook Gaming every month and the social network has announced to roll out Cloud gaming in Canada and Mexico, and will reach Western and Central Europe by early 2022.

The social network also welcomed top gaming company Ubisoft as a partner and the popular Assassin's Creed Rebellion has arrived as a cloud-streamed game on Facebook Gaming.

Last October, Facebook announced beta programme of its cloud gaming platform to expand the library of mobile games on Facebook and started with launching a handful of cloud-streamed games on Android and web in select US regions.

"We've now scaled our infrastructure significantly, and we're announcing coverage to over 98 per cent of people in the mainland United States. We're on track to hit 100 per cent by fall of this year," Jason Rubin, VP of Play, Facebook said in a statement late on Thursday.

"This growth is an early signal that people are having fun and we're on the path to delivering developer value," he added.

Facebook in October last year made its Cloud gaming service official, with launching several new games in the main app and on browser for Android and on the web but ditched Apple, saying its Cloud gaming path on the iOS devices is uncertain.

Apple restricted Facebook Gaming to arrive on iOS several times and the social network's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg admitted that Facebook managed to launch an iOS version of its gaming app after it was "forced to make a concession to bring it to the App Store".

Rubin said that it is not spinning off a separate service, charging subscription fees or trying to replace consoles, PCs or mobile phones.

"We're building up our free-to-play mobile catalogue of games in a measured way and deepening the games people can enjoy with their friends on Facebook. For us, cloud-streaming is a way to deliver cross-device, instant access to games, wherever people want to play," he explained.

Facebook now has over 25 cloud-streamed games on the platform, with recent additions including Roller Coaster Tycoon Touch by Atari, Lego Legacy Heroes Unboxed and Dragon Mania Legends by Gameloft and State of Survival by FunPlus.

"Finally, we're continuing to update our Play destination on Facebook Gaming. The most recent redesign is all about making it easier for people to discover and play the best and most popular games, whether they're cloud-streamed or HTML5," the company said.

--IANS

na/