Where did Facebook go wrong with its dedicated gaming app that is about to shut down?

The Facebook Gaming App will be shutting down towards the end of October based on the official information given by Meta at the end of August. While some speculated that such a move could happen, it was always thought that it wouldn't take place anytime soon.

While strange things have happened in the tech and gaming industry this year, the announcement wasn't one. While Meta hasn't explicitly given details of the rationale behind their decision, it has been a long time coming. Facebook has been able to expand its services to new areas, but video game streaming is an exception.

Mark Zuckerberg's company launched their dedicated gaming app with a lot of fanfare in 2020, and they wanted to make the most of the space. After all, the market has significantly developed, and It boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unfortunately, it made some grave mistakes along the way, which now means a closure after just two years. While the announcement might have surprised some, it's not a black swan event by any means!

Note: The article is subjective and reflects the writer's views.

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The Facebook Gaming App will go down as a good potential that was let down by poor decisions

The streaming industry entered a new peak when the Facebook Gaming App was launched. The COVID-19 pandemic meant physical sports and other activities couldn't be done. People got locked in their homes, and video games proved to be the one area where the limitations had been removed.

This is also a space where there is more than one player, as Twitch doesn't have an absolute monopoly. It sure is the market leader and has a good grasp, but it's not alone. YouTube Gaming has been on the rise, and there has been a recent shift in momentum. Meta could have done the same if it had adequately strategized the Facebook Gaming App.

One can quickly feel that the application decided to run before it can walk. Moves like getting Neymar to endorse the product could have been better spent in other areas. One of the most glaring errors of the platform was the lack of popular streamers. Personalities like DisguisedToast and Ramee weren't enough when the application tried to rival Twitch.

The app's problems did't end there; another was poor decisions by Meta. For some reason, they decided to integrate it within the Facebook mobile app, which meant the gaming app was redundant.

Most gamers use the Facebook app for both social networking and streaming purposes. It hampered the growth of the Facebook Gaming App, which could never get enough numbers to turn profitable.

Another mistake Meta made was an overreliance on numbers. Many of the views that were coming were from the Facebook app, not the gaming app. As mentioned earlier, this is one integration that wasn't required to be made.

Where Twitch truly shines is the neatness it brings with its offerings. Anyone who hears the name will imagine one word in their mind - streaming. YouTube has been striving towards this, and its gaming service is distinctly different from the video streaming platform. There's an integration between the two, but the difference between the services is a lot less in the case of YouTube.

Some even felt that how the app pushed for the donation of stars was problematic. It's not wrong for a platform to ask for a contribution for the content creators. However, there's a fine margin on what's considered acceptable in today's community.

A recent report suggests that the gaming app has less than 8% of the video game streaming market. Its closure could be the potential end of its video game streaming ambitions for the time being. Had there been better decision-making, there might have been different results from what had happened.