Facebook Gaming is here-but can it compete with YouTube and Twitch?

The social giant’s standalone app would not provide enough for either causal gamers or esports streaming fans.

The social giant, Facebook, has released an app drafted to compete with the like of Twitch, Mixer, and YouTube. It was expected to be launched later this year, but it landed out early.

Facebook Gaming already existed in website form and was integrated into the Facebook app itself, however from today, you may now shove it into your phone and watch streamers doing their thing on a far smaller screen. Users can both pick out the old Words With Friends game and attend their 5th or sixth-favorite call of duty streamers snapping heads off.

Users can also follow up with their favorite streamers and can also select games withing the library from the app. It also allows mobile streaming, letting players show off live gameplay from mobile games without extra faffing around.

However, who stream mobile games? It is not anywhere near as popular as streaming PC or console games. Right now, there are quite a few people watching Age of Empires and American Truck Simulator streams, though the app instead shines its spotlight on games like Modern Warfare, GTA 5, PUBG, and Fortnite, despite the streams in question having lower numbers.

Once you first open the app, it asks you to pick out a number of your favorite video games, after which it proposes some streamers to follow. It has a news feed tab displaying clips, videos, and posts from gaming groups like ordinary Facebook games; a tab for playing popular Facebook games like OMG; a tab for watching or discovering live streams; and a tab for messages. Camera buttons sit down on each the bottom right and top left of the main page for live-streaming yourself playing mobile games installed for your phone.

Facebook Gaming is out now for Android devices, with the iOS version following shortly.