Facebook launches its dedicated gaming app in the US

Facebook has been working on its gaming app for a few years now. After making its debut in the Philippines back in 2018, Facebook Gaming is now available to all Android users in the United States.

Facebook Gaming is a hub for the gaming community where gamers can watch their favorite streamers, play casual games and chat about anything games-related. At the moment, the app is only available for Android users via Google Play Store, but an iOS version is in the process of being approved by Apple and should go live in the App Store very soon.

Although Facebook is not a new player in the gaming industry, it didn't manage to attract as many players as other streaming services like Twitch and YouTube, but it does have enough viewers to convince the company to invest in the platform.

Metrics published by Streamlabs and Stream Hatchet show Twitch ranks one in top total hours watched in Q1 2020 with more than 3.1 billion hours, followed by YouTube Gaming Live with 1 billion hours and Facebook with just 500 million hours.

When it comes to streaming total streaming hours in Q1 2020, Twitch dominates once again with 121 million hours, followed by Mixer with 28 million hours. Surprisingly, YouTube Gaming Live and Facebook rank third and fourth place with just 14 million and 5 million hours, respectively.

There's hope for Facebook though as the metrics report shows that from February to March, watch hours on Facebook Gaming increased by 3.8%. The bad news is the other platforms increased a bit more: Twitch – 23%, Mixer – 14,9%, YouTube Gaming Live – 10.7%.