Facebook enters the world of cloud gaming


Facebook has become the latest tech giant to enter into the cloud gaming space – but it’s taking a slightly different approach by not creating a separate service or charging people for using it.

The free-to-play cloud games are available in beta on Android and on the web, with the service eventually arriving on iOS. The first set of games released include Asphalt 9: Legends, Mobile Legends: Adventure, PGA Tour Golf Shootout, Solitaire: Arthur’s Tale, and WWE: SuperCard.

“Cloud gaming is about expanding the types of games we already offer, so we’ll start with the format people enjoy playing on Facebook: free-to-play games. That’s one of the reasons why we’re starting with games typically played on mobile devices,” said Jason Rubin, Vice President of Play at Facebook, in a blog post. “In the future, our systems and infrastructure will improve to deliver more types of games — possibly all types of games. Until then, rest assured that the cost of trying our cloud games is $0.”

The games will initially be playable across the US in California, Texas, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and West Virginia.

With the introduction of cloud gaming, Facebook has also added the option of using player names and gaming-themed avatars rather than your full name and profile picture when playing games. And, for advertisers, there’s the addition of a cloud playable ads format, enabling interactive demos from a game’s native code to be used in ads.

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