Facebook Gaming, the game streaming service from the social media giant, recently announced a new feature called Tournaments on its platform. The Tournaments feature, as the name suggests, will let users create and organise virtual gaming tournaments in a variety of formats. It will also allow users to create, join, or follow live gaming tournaments, which will also have an integrated charity tool, allowing users to support important causes. Since the tournaments are integrated into the Facebook Gaming service itself, users will be able to host tournaments and stream them at the same time.
:mega:Launch announcement…:mega::video_game:🧵
1/ Social distancing means we have to be apart, but games can still bring us together. So today we’re opening early access to Facebook Gaming tournaments, a feature to help people stay connected through games. pic.twitter.com/rYOIXBcIHS
— Facebook Gaming #playaparttogether (@FacebookGaming) April 7, 2020
Facebook said that it is launching the Tournaments feature on its Gaming platform as an early access programme, in order to help people stay connected during the coronavirus-led lockdowns.
“Social distancing means we have to be apart, but games can still bring us together. So today we’re opening early access to Facebook Gaming tournaments, a feature to help people stay connected through games,” Facebook said in a blog post.
Facebook said that anyone can start or join a tournament on Facebook Gaming – be it a casual gaming tournament among friends, a creator playing with their followers, or a global e-sports competition. There are different modes, like elimination, double elimination, and round robin. Users can choose any online game on any platform for organising a tournament.
The feature is already live on Facebook. It shows an option to ‘Create a Tournament’ on the top, with two sections – ‘Your Tournaments’ and ‘Suggested Tournaments.’ ‘Your Tournaments’ shows the tournaments that a user has created or participated in, while ‘Suggested Tournaments,’ allows users to browse among all the ongoing gaming tournaments.
Photo Credit: Facebook
Upon opening a tournament page, users are given options to join the Tournament, share it with Facebook friends, and an option to report the tournament. Further, it gives information about the tournament.
Facebook Gaming’s latest move comes as the platform’s effort to catch up with other leading game streaming platforms, such as Twitch, in terms of userbase. A report by Stream Elements said that despite a double watch time on Facebook Gaming in 2019, the company only managed to score a 3 percent market share. Twitch, the leader in the game streaming market, holds a 73 percent market share, ahead of YouTube that holds a 21 percent market share.