Facebook Live launched in 2015 as a way for people to broadcast live video streams on Facebook. It was initially seen as a competitor to other live streaming platforms like Twitch, YouTube Live, and Mixer. For a while, Facebook Live gained traction as a platform for gaming live streams and esports broadcasting.
Why did Facebook Live gain popularity for gaming initially?
There were a few key reasons why Facebook Live became popular for gaming streams when it first launched:
- Large built-in audience – Facebook already had a massive user base of over 1 billion monthly active users. This provided streamers an instant potential audience.
- Strong social features – Viewers could comment, react, and engage with streams in real-time. Streamers could easily share streams with friends.
- Monetization options – Facebook enabled revenue generation like Stars and subscription tiers for gaming creators.
- High visibility – Streams were very discoverable on Facebook’s platform and algorithmically pushed to people’s feeds.
- Streamlined broadcasting – Going live on Facebook was relatively frictionless for anyone with a profile and did not require special software or equipment.
Facebook Live made streaming accessible at a global scale for gamers who could tap into the platform’s vast ecosystem. Many popular streamers started adopting Facebook Live alongside other services.
What were some of the challenges Facebook Live faced for gaming?
However, over time, Facebook Live ran into a few obstacles that made it less ideal for live gaming content:
- Limitations for monetization – Facebook’s monetization tools were limited compared to platforms like Twitch and YouTube. Stars pricing and gifting had issues. Ad breaks were restricted.
- Less gaming-focused features – Unlike other platforms, Facebook did not add many gamer-centric features for discoverability and engagement.
- Content moderation problems – Harmful and objectionable content cropped up frequently due to Facebook’s massive openness.
- Lagging video tech – Facebook Live had more latency, video quality issues, and technical problems compared to mature game streaming platforms.
- Declining organic reach – Algorithm changes reduced the visibility of Facebook Live gaming streams in people’s feeds over time.
The core Facebook experience diverged from what hardcore gamers and esports viewers sought from live streaming platforms catered to gaming.
How did gaming creators’ usage of Facebook Live shift?
By 2018, many gaming creators stopped relying on Facebook Live as their primary streaming outlet. Some of the key changes in how they used Facebook Live included:
- Less gaming streams – Creators allocated fewer streams exclusively to Facebook compared to Twitch and YouTube.
- Repurposing content – Facebook Live became more commonly used to repurpose highlights or uploads from other platforms.
- Alternate topics – Gaming personalities diversified to non-gaming related topics like chat sessions or IRL streams on Facebook.
- Reduced investments – With weaker monetization outlook, gaming creators invested less into production quality and length for Facebook streams.
- Focusing on clips – Shorter clipped highlights from external streams were more common than long-form marathons.
The majority of hardcore gamers migrated their viewing habits back to endemic gaming platforms. But casual viewers still provided some audience for repurposed gaming content on Facebook Live.
How has Facebook Live overall adoption trended?
Beyond just gaming, Facebook Live’s general popularity and usage saw declines starting around 2018. Some evidence of this includes:
- Total hours watched – After peaking in early 2018, the total live watch time on Facebook steadily decreased over the next few years.
- Active users – The number of people actively using Facebook Live also dropped noticeably between 2018 and 2021.
- Creator earnings – Many influencers reported making far less money from Facebook Live as payouts fell.
- Stream numbers – Concurrent and total live streams fell as both individuals and Pages streamed less on the platform.
- Productinvestment – Facebook appeared to put less product resources and development into the Live platform after 2018.
This general decline in livstreaming aligns with the gaming subset of creators tapering their usage of Facebook Live around 2018 as well.
How has the competitive landscape evolved?
Here is a brief overview of how other major platforms have evolved since Facebook Live’s initial gaming success:
Twitch
- Continued dominance as the #1 platform for gaming live streaming with over 2 million concurrent viewers at peaks.
- Added more monetization options like bits, boosts, bounties to empower streamers.
- Enhanced discovery features for both streamers and genres, catering to gaming interests.
- Improved its video infrastructure and reduced latency issues for smooth streaming.
YouTube Live
- Invested heavily in live infrastructure, reducing latency and improving reliability.
- Integrated livestreams into YouTube’s powerful algorithmic recommendations for discoverability.
- Added Channel Memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers to generate revenue for gaming creators.
- Focused on short-form and mobile livestreams to complement long-form content.
Facebook Gaming
- Spun off a dedicated Facebook Gaming app and tab within main Facebook app.
- Built out more gaming-focused features like streamer programs, gameplay clipping, and fan groups.
- Offered financial incentives via its Level Up program to attract gaming creators.
- Acquired exclusivity deals with personalities like Disguised Toast and Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios to stream on the platform.
While it has not reclaimed dominance, Facebook has made concerted efforts to rebuild its gaming ecosystem and attract both viewers and streamers.
What role does Facebook Live gaming have today?
In 2022 and beyond, Facebook Live occupies a secondary but still relevant position in the gaming ecosystem:
- Niche platform – It caters to casual gamers and mobile users looking for bite-sized, non-competitive streams.
- Promotional window – Big gaming personalities may use it to tease content from their core platforms.
- Repurposing home – Upload recordings and highlights from external streams get good auxiliary viewership on Facebook.
- Non-endemic reach – wider swaths of non-gaming audiences provide secondary viewership for gaming streamers.
While not the juggernaut it once seemed poised to become, Facebook Live still offers a complementary venue for gaming creators as part of a multi-platform strategy.
Conclusion
Facebook Live rose to prominence as a gaming streaming platform upon launch due to Facebook’s reach and accessible broadcasting. However, lack of gaming-centric features, declining organic visibility, and competition from Twitch and YouTube Gaming led to its diminished role for core gaming live streams within a few years. It still maintains a place as a supplementary outlet for casual gaming content and repurposed streams. But Facebook Live is unlikely to regain the competitive standing it once had to become the dominant platform for gaming live streaming looking forward.