Meta Platform's
Beginning on October 28, Facebook Gaming will no longer be accessible on iOS
"We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of you for everything that you've done to build a thriving community for gamers and fans since this app first launched," Facebook stated on the Facebook Gaming platform. "This was truly a community-led effort to bring new gaming features to Facebook."
The gaming app has only been in effect for around two years. Facebook came out with Gaming in order to create competition with other platforms like Twitch
Though Facebook has not offered a specific reason behind its shutdown of the app, it has been suspected that it could possibly be from lack of interest or success. A report conducted by Streamlabs revealed that, throughout the second quarter of 2022, Facebook Gaming comprised merely 7.9% of the market share in terms of total viewed hours. This amount compares with Twitch's 76.7% and YouTube's 15.4%.
In spite of the fact that Facebook Gaming became much more renowned throughout the COVID-19 pandemic period, the total number of viewers who have committed to the platform has significantly decreased over time. Additional data from Streamlabs demonstrated that the total amount of hours on Facebook Gaming dropped by about 8.4% throughout the second quarter of 2022.
Facebook is not the first company to have failed to succeed at establishing a solid gaming platform, however. Various data has reported that companies like Microsoft have been forced to shut down their gaming platforms (such as "Mixer" in 2020) due to lack of interest. YouTube has also taken away it's gaming app, stating that it only further confused users, rather than attracted them to its platform.
