We’ve known for a while that Facebook wanted to attract streamers to their platform. But, Facebook is now ramping it up with their Gaming Creator Program.
What is the Gaming Creator Program?
Essentially, it involves Facebook working directly with streamers to help them livestream on Facebook. It’s a way for Facebook to directly invest in the growing gaming video content industry as well as bring more eyeballs to Facebook Live.
According to Facebook, these are their key focus areas for the program:
- Community building
- Discovery (to help people find your gaming content) and distribution (i.e. across Facebook’s other platforms like Instagram and Oculus)
- Tools to help streamers monetise their videos (Specifically, “make a living streaming games on Facebook“)
- Opportunities for all levels of streamers to thrive across the platform
Facebook has already been working with some gamers prior to launch. However, this launch marks their formal onboarding of several new streamers. They’ve even opened up the invitation to anyone who may be interested in working with them.
Facebook competing with YouTube, Twitch
Facebook will need to do a bit of catching up given how well-established YouTube and Twitch are in the gaming community. They admit so themselves in their blog post announcing the program launch:
Twitch is already ahead of the game with their announcement last year of increased extension support. During TwitchCon 2017, they also announced several new features for new and established streamers.
This isn’t Facebook’s only movement in the gaming industry
Of course, we recently covered the fact that Facebook made an exclusive deal with ESL earlier to broadcast CS:GO. In addition, their announcement blog notes that they will be present at PAX East in April with their team of gaming creators.
Facebook is finally understanding that the billion-dollar industry that is gaming is one that they should (finally) be tapping into.
Source: https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2018/01/26/gaming-creator-pilot-program/
