Facebook announced that it will work with the game engine company Unity to build a downloadable desktop gaming platform called the Facebook PC Gaming Platform.
The goal of this agreement is reportedly to enter the casual gaming market, which will put Facebook in direct competition with players like the online gaming giant Steam.
The launch is actually an update to the Facebook Games Arcade beta from earlier in May, which is meant to offer a singular place for browsing your games without the distraction of the news feed, reports The Next Web.
Unity provides among the most popular gaming development tools on the market which have been used for games such as Mountain View and Ori and the Blind Forest.
Game developers can apply until August 31st to gain access to an alpha of Unity 5.4, which will allow them to build games for Facebook’s website and desktop app. While Facebook Games Arcade was only available on Windows computers, the Facebook PC Gaming Platform will be available on all PCs.
Outlets report that this initiative could be the start of real competition between Facebook and Steam’s online gaming marketplace. While it’s just casual gaming for now, there’s no reason it can’t embrace serious gaming in the future.
While Facebook once had the online gaming market wired, it’ll be interesting to see whether it can do so again.
Related reading: Facebook claims it has a way to stop your adblocker
[source]TechCrunch[/source]
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