- Facebook recently announced a plan to launch a website building service and a free cloud gaming service. This is how it will work.
Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) recently announced a new website building service and a free cloud gaming service. Here is an overview of how they will work.
Facebook Hosting Services
Facebook Hosting Services will be available over the next few months. The hosting service will be offered to businesses for free, which will be appealing for companies that are looking for a new hosting option. And the service will also enable users to manage their WhatsApp messages directly through hosting services.
“Businesses have varying technology needs and want choice in the companies they work with to host and manage customer communications, particularly with remote work increasing. Which is why over the coming months, we plan to expand our partnerships with business solution providers we’ve worked with over the last two years,” said Facebook in a blog post. “We will also provide a new option for businesses to manage their WhatsApp messages via hosting services that Facebook plans to offer. Providing this option will make it easier for small and medium size businesses to get started, sell products, keep their inventory up to date, and quickly respond to messages they receive – wherever their employees are.”
Free Cloud Gaming Service
Facebook is also launching a game streaming service, which allows gamers to play over a data connection. However, Facebook is starting out by offering smaller games rather than competing with larger platforms like Google Stadia, NVIDIA GeForce Now, and Microsoft xCloud.
Some of the titles that are being offered through Facebook’s cloud gaming service include Asphalt 9: Legends, PGA TOUR Golf Shootout, and Solitaire: Arthur’s Tale. And more games will be added soon. These games are available in the Gaming section of Facebook.
Facebook is also launching “cloud playable ads” in the News Feed. The mini demos of the games will target people who do not interact much with the Gaming tab on Facebook.
Cloud gaming through Facebook will be available via Android and on the web. It is not available on Apple iOS since Apple banned game streaming services on the mobile platform. And Facebook is working closely with Microsoft to integrate this service into xCloud.
This new service is largely based on Facebook’s acquisition of PlayGiga last year. Prior to the acquisition, PlayGiga offered a cloud gaming service in Europe and the Middle East.
Social gaming is still popular on the Facebook Gaming tab. Around 30 million users log in every month to play games that were originally built with Flash. And Instant Games (HTML5-based games) are played by over 300 million users every month, according to Engadget. The Facebook Gaming Streamable games are going to appear in the Instant Games section of the Gaming tab as well.
