Meta is shutting down Facebook Gaming’s mobile app

It’s official, Meta (Facebook’s parent company) is shutting down Facebook Gaming’s mobile app. Facebook Gaming is Meta’s live streaming platform which was created to rival Amazon’s Twitch and also compete with YouTube Gaming.

According to the post shared on Facebook Gaming, the app won’t be available on iOS and Android starting from 28 October. The gaming features provided by the app will be available through Facebook’s main application.

Meta launched Facebook Gaming as a rival to Twitch back in 2019 when the video games and live streaming industries were booming due to people being stuck at home following the Covid-19 lockdowns.

Facebook Gaming’s official post:

“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,” the company said in an update on the Facebook Gaming app. This was truly a community-led effort to bring new gaming features to Facebook.

“Despite this news, our mission to connect players, fans and creators with the games they love hasn’t changed, and you’ll still be able to find your games, streamers and groups when you visit Gaming in the Facebook app.”

According to the State of the Stream report for July 2022, Facebook Gaming is the second most popular live streaming platform, but considering how the competition is basically between Twitch, Facebook and YouTube, it’s not exactly a satisfying result for the social media and tech giant.

When it comes to mobile game live streaming, Facebook Gaming finds itself in second place again, but this time behind YouTube Gaming.

Many other tech giants tried to dethrone Twitch at one point or another, the most recent one being Microsoft’s Mixer, which was shut down back in 2020 after failing to challenge Twitch.

Meta has been shifting focus to creating a metaverse and gaming is a key part of it. However, Vivek Sharma the VP of Meta Horizon (and VP of Facebook Gaming at one point) left the company just a few days earlier.