Facebook jumps into cloud gaming with unique F2P-only game plan

Today Facebook announced it'll start streaming games to the Facebook app on mobiles and browsers on desktops/laptops.

Facebook's new cloud game streaming feature isn't like Stadia or Amazon's new Luna service. It's not even a separate service. Facebook isn't going to mirror Stadia and sell full-priced premium games like Red Dead Redemption 2, nor will it have the subscription channel revenue model like Luna.

Instead, Facebook is baking cloud game streaming right into the app itself, and it'll be part of the Facebook Gaming brand. Facebook's 2.7 billion users can natively stream select F2P games directly to their phones or their desktops via browser or app, all without any need for downloads. The streamable games are housed in Facebook's new Instant Games section.

The idea is to remove a friction barrier and make microtranasaction-driven games instantly accessible directly within the world's most popular app.

Admittedly the games selection isn't too exciting. To make things clear: This isn't about selling games, but maximizing ad exposure and in-game purchase revenues by adding more access points. In short, Facebook is doubling-down on its strengths and isn't trying to play around with game sales.

"I want to clarify what we're not doing: we're not spinning off a separate cloud gaming service. All cloud-streamed games are playable in the same way you play games now on Facebook - whether it's in our Gaming tab or from News Feed. No special hardware or controllers needed - your hands are the controllers since we're launching with native mobile games. And you can play these games with a mouse and keyboard on desktop,"reads the announcement post.