Facebook and Unity have announced the Facebook PC Gaming Platform: a competitor to platforms such as Steam and Origin. According to TechCrunch, it is an evolution of the Facebook Games Arcade, a beta of which was launched in May. The platform is intended as a focused place to browse games without the distraction of Facebook’s other features, like the News Feed. Initial games are ‘likely’ to be more casual, like those currently on Facebook. However, there are no hardware limitations; technically, there is nothing to prevent developers from adding games like Mass Effect.
Analyst Comment
It has proven very difficult for any other platform to compete with Steam, which is well-established. The situation has not been helped by the fact that most competing products are developer-specific: Origin, for instance, is run by EA. Facebook certainly has the scale, though, even if its background is not in gaming. (TA)
