Facebook seems to be intent on staking claim to every corner of the internet by any means necessary. Its latest conquest is to win over the hearts of gamers by partnering with World Of Warcraft creator Blizzard Entertainment.
You’d probably assume the deal would involve Blizzard making a game for Facebook, but it’s quite the opposite. The latter’s Live platform will in fact be playing host to real-time game streaming. The new development pits it directly against preeminent game streaming platform Twitch and other major sites like YouTube, Azubu and HitBox.
Twitch will be a tough nut to crack for Facebook, given the former’s dedicated community and interface. The social media juggernaut has its own 1.65 billion-strong user base in its arsenal, not to mention the fact that 650 million people already play games connected to Facebook on a monthly basis across web, mobile and console.
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The new deal with Blizzard may certainly give Facebook Live’s ambitions a boost given the popularity of the company among gamers. Players will soon be able to log into games via their Facebook credentials. The list of titles boasting this functionality includes Heroes of the Storm, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Diablo III, Starcraft II and the newly launched Overwatch.
Players can now take advantage of a Go Live streaming feature which will post their gaming exploits directly to their timeline for everyone to view and comment on in real-time. Friends will also be able to subscribe and get notified when new sessions are available. Overwatch is the first title to be blessed with this new ability.
The Facebook login integration will take place later this month for Blizzard games, followed soon after by the Live API implementation.