Post-Oculus VR Acquisition, Facebook Is Launching Own PC Gaming Platform

While most game developers are currently busy teasing about their upcoming releases at Gamescom 2016, Facebook silently worked its way to drop a bombshell. Apparently, Mark Zuckerberg’s social-networking company is launching a PC gaming platform today — a big move that everyone did not expect since Facebook appeared to be content with what it is right now.

However, it’s been seven years since the social media giant launched “FarmVille.” Also, it’s been two years since Facebook acquired Oculus VR and at that time, the company did not disclose what it wanted to do with the Oculus VR, but it did admit back then that it is going to make “completely new kinds of experiences” with the virtual reality headset at hand. Facebook also revealed that time that it has planned to engage in gaming projects. And perhaps the plans have worked out, since the social media company already appears to be moving forward with its goals of launching its own gaming platform.

Facebook tapped Unity for the game engine of the platform. The engine enables studios to directly publish a game onto the Facebook PC gaming platform. While it is not evident yet, Engadget believes that Facebook released its gaming platform to possibly serve as the company’s means to sell more Oculus VR games.

Speaking of Unity’s partnership with Facebook, Unity’s VP of business development Elliot Solomon said in a press release, "Integrating tools that provide effortless access to Facebook's network is a key part of helping developers find the success they deserve.”

Facebook has also teased that its gaming platform provides a “dedicated, immersive experience" for gamers. Perhaps the company wants to relive the recent past when its games, like “FarmVille,” were being patronized by a lot of people all over the world, according to CNET. However, as more and more games became available to smartphones and tablets, the demand for Facebook’s games plummeted.

Now that Facebook has its own gaming platform, perhaps it has a more stable plan to be a major player in the gaming industry. Facebook’s gaming platform is described as something quite similar to Steam. Aside from games that are present in the PC gaming platform, Facebook is also teasing about the usual games found on its site, according to MS Power User.