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Facebook Officially Announces Gameroom, Its PC Steam Competitor (techcrunch.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the all-in-one dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: After losing mobile gaming to iOS and Android, Facebook is making a big push into playing on PC with today's developer launch of its Gameroom Windows desktop gaming platform. After months of name changes, beta tests and dev solicitation, Facebook opened up the beta build for all developers and officially named it Gameroom. The app is openly available for users to download on Windows 7 and up. Gameroom let users play web, ported mobile and native Gameroom games in a dedicated PC app free from the distractions of the News Feed. Gameroom will have to fight a steep uphill battle again Valve's Steam platform, which has well over 125 million active users, with millions actually playing at any given moment. Facebook will need to convince developers that Gameroom will share its social network's massive reach and is therefore worth their while. Then it will have to persuade gamers that a more social experience is worth diving into a new platform. If Facebook succeeds, there are plenty of potential benefits to owning a gaming destination. Facebook announced the launch and name change from "Facebook Games Arcade" today at Unity's game development platform conference. Unity 5.6 shipping next year will allow devs to export their games directly to Facebook Gameroom, as well as to the WebGL standard. Facebook's director of global games platform, Leo Olebe, touted how Facebook will feature new games in the Gameroom to give developers a leg up.

116 comments

  1. Dead out of the gate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Gameroom?

    This idea is sunk by name already

    1. Re:Dead out of the gate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Room

  2. Might as well sell your soul by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because that's the next thing Facebook will come after - your soul.

    So they can "monetize" it by selling it.

    1. Re:Might as well sell your soul by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      that was actually what they started selling first.

  3. Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by sinij · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is dead on arrival, as Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers. They might attract casual Facebook gamers, Farmville and the like, but they already have these.

    1. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This guy gets it. Complete waste of Facebook's resources; they'll never capture the "core gamer" crowd they're trying to reach out to with this release. Thankfully.

    2. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by Shoten · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is dead on arrival, as Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers. They might attract casual Facebook gamers, Farmville and the like, but they already have these.

      Indeed. My first thought after reading this was, "There's no way I'm going to let those privacy-rapist cunts get their hooks into any part of my life...and Steam works just fine."

      --

      For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
    3. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by mjwx · · Score: 1

      This is dead on arrival, as Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers. They might attract casual Facebook gamers, Farmville and the like, but they already have these.

      I think that is the audience FB are trying to get. Those who want to bother other people with their Fruit Quest bollocks. Happy for that kind of nonsense and gamer to stay restricted to FB.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    4. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by tripleevenfall · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm sure that, as with any new FB feature, we can all expect a tidal wave of unwanted notifications and invitations soonly.

    5. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by tripleevenfall · · Score: 1

      But they aren't looking for you, the Steam player, who would never use this. They're looking for the same rubes who spent real money on hay for their chocolate cows in Farmville. They want you paying facebook for it instead.

    6. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by Ranbot · · Score: 2

      This is dead on arrival, as Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers. They might attract casual Facebook gamers, Farmville and the like, but they already have these.

      Yup. Even with the casual gamers Facebook is missing that casual gamers don't want to be tied to another device... just ask Nintendo! Casual gamers won't take the extra effort to find a PC when they can just turn on a phone or tablet anywhere and immediately be playing Farmville [or alternative knock-off].

      Also most gamers whether casual or hardcore don't necessarily want their gaming connected to their Facebook network of friends, associates, extended family, maybe even co-workers, so that connection would be a deterrent not benefit. I am a gamer with friends on Facebook and Steam, some of which overlap, but I prefer to keep those worlds separate.

      And no exclusive titles or Oculus support that Facebook paid millions for?

      Seems like a half-baked roll-out to sell to shareholders who don't understand the gamer market at all.

    7. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 3, Interesting

      This is dead on arrival, as Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers. They might attract casual Facebook gamers, Farmville and the like, but they already have these.

      They already have them, but they're not extracting money from them; Zynga and their ilk are. This is a plan to get a hold of the revenue streams that currently goes to Zynga et al.

    8. Re: Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nintendos handhelds sell very well. The Wii U flopped only because it was marketed horribly, didn't have 3rd party support, and didn't have enough 1st party support. The console previous was one of the best selling consoles ever.

      You really are a moron, you know that? Delete your account.

    9. Re: Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are joking, right? We are talking about the same "gamers" here right? The people that pay hundreds of dollars for gaming peripherals because they glow, who are happy to drop 80 dollars on prepurchasing a game before they know if it's any good, who will show up to gaming conventions and literally cheer when the mook on stage performs a particularly gnarly take down/head shot or announces . Core gamers are the very definition of modern hyper consumers, and aren't we forgetting the "outcry" that followed Valve's early Steam releases, like the Half-life 2 registration debacle? Yeah, that sure hurt them! All Facebook has to do is get a few big name devs onboard, or convince Epic that Unreal Engine should be able to target Gameroom, and they are sorted.

    10. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by hodet · · Score: 1

      Seperation of gaming life and facebook life hits home for me. I really like Steam, but its not something I wan't to be on my FB feed, nor would I want it on my LinkdIn feed either for obvious reasons.

    11. Re: Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      The Wii U flopped only because it was marketed horribly, didn't have 3rd party support, and didn't have enough 1st party support. The console previous was one of the best selling consoles ever.

      The wii might have been one of the best selling things ever but that was only because of the casual and "sports" stuff on it. There were very few proper games and even less that weren't put out by nintendo. They won't replicate that again and this new switch things looks like it will suffer the same fate as the wiiu. They'll keep on selling a fuckton of ds' though or whatever handheld they replace that with whenever they get around to it. Oh yeah, this facebook thing ain't going anywhere either.

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
    12. Re: Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      All Facebook has to do is get a few big name devs onboard, or convince Epic that Unreal Engine should be able to target Gameroom, and they are sorted.

      Not even nearly. You clearly aren't a gamer. To even stand a chance to capture the core gamer as you put it they would need to bag exclusivity deals to make people consider abandoning their chosen platform but that will more than likely make them abandon the game. There are shitloads of games, on a bunch of platforms, only a few of which are actually any good though, it needs to better than all the competition otherwise why would people bother, and it won't be.

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
    13. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 1

      Then why is this being framed as a Steam competitor?

      --
      "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
    14. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by CAHutch · · Score: 1

      Agreed. No way in hell I'm installing any Facebook "platform" on my PC. I've no doubt however that this has something to do with FB owning Occulus. Occulus already has it's own game distribution platform though. Possibly they will merge and Occulus users will eventually be forced to use the Facebook platform. Good thing I went with the HTC.

    15. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by supremebob · · Score: 2

      Honestly, it's not all that hard to get hardcore gamers to join a new platform. All you need to do is offer them a few older quality PC games for free (or a highly discounted price), and they'll install the client to download them.

      Hey... it worked for EA with Origin, right? I didn't want to put that crap on my PC, but I did to get those games.

    16. Re: Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by Ranbot · · Score: 1

      Nintendos handhelds sell very well. The Wii U flopped...The console previous was one of the best selling consoles ever.

      You really are a moron, you know that? Delete your account.

      Wii and DS sales from 10 years ago have no bearing on the realities of today's game market. The Wii and DS hit a sweet spot in the growth of technology just before mobile phones took over, but those days are long over. Nintendo stock has fallen over the years because investors know this. Nintendo's CEO has publicly discussed the strong competition from mobile phone games. Nintendo even invested in mobile phone game maker Niantic and give them rights to the Pokemon franchise to make Pokemon Go! Nintendo doesn't give their franchises to others lightly, but they know their company isn't positioned to compete directly in the mobile game markets.

    17. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      to make waves in news...

    18. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Considering that most of those types wouldn't BE playing anything you might stream via this service...don't think so.

    19. Re: Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, exclusives are only a necessity when it's a dinosaur of a company putting out near-risk-free me-too services that do the bare minimum, if anything at all, to offer consumers a benefit. Valve had no problem growing Steam without playing the exclusivity deals game.

    20. Re: Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by tepples · · Score: 1

      So what's the standard practice to control a character in an exploration-oriented platformer (think the Metroidvania genre, not a one-button continuous runner like Rayman Jungle Run) using only a touch screen? At least Nintendo's handhelds still have a Control Pad and physical buttons. Even the widely panned Turbo Touch 360 was better than the flat sheet of glass that is a smartphone's pointing device for three reasons: A. physical buttons are unchanged from an ordinary turbo controller, B. the touchpad is recessed so that the thumb can feel its edges, and C. the touchpad has ridges along the eight cardinal and intercardinal directions so that the thumb can feel the direction.

    21. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by kuzb · · Score: 1

      This is exactly right. If facebook actually wants to compete, it needs to separate itself entirely from the new brand.

      --
      BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
    22. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by sinij · · Score: 1

      Seperation of gaming life and facebook life hits home for me.

      Your secret affinity for Japanese Anime dating sims is safe for now.

    23. Re: Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by Cederic · · Score: 2

      Hmm, no. I started using Steam because games I bought wouldn't run without it.

      HL2: Steam exclusive. That alone drew a large audience.

      Me, it was Empire:Total War. Yep, no Steam until 2009, but then it started getting difficult to find games that didn't have "Requires Steam".

      So yeah, Valve did use exclusives to help grow the platform. It's only the last three years or so that services like GOG have started to challenge the 'Must have Steam' PC gaming hegemony.

    24. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by hodet · · Score: 1

      lol, minecraft is more my thing.

    25. Re: Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by rogoshen1 · · Score: 1

      An onscreen controller, even with thumbstick works surprisingly well, such as with Final Fantasy VI on android -- works wonderfully. But it doesn't do haptic feedback.

    26. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by Solandri · · Score: 1

      Talk about trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip. Zynga (ZNGA) has been trading below $3 for most of its public existence, compared to its $11 IPO in 2011.

    27. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeaaaah dawwwg! 360 no scope pig slopping for da wiiiiin! Wuzzup mah streemen friends, if I get 50 thumbs up in the next hour Imma gonna get some eggggzz!

    28. Re: Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not only am I a gamer, I work in the industry. Valve's Steam was deeply distrusted when it first released, and the issues with online authentication couldn't have been better exemplified than with people having to wait upwards of a day to activate HL2 upon its release. Yet strangely, HL2 and Valve did perfectly well. For you and I, who probably understand the implications of social gaming and FB's stated belief that everything should be public, we would not touch Gameroom without a very good reason. As a game developer that reason for me, would be seemless integration of features I want to use - achievements, for example, and obviously, and chance to break through on a new platform for little risk. Risk being key, here. Most gamers are consumers, rather extreme consumers at that. As difficult as it is to admit, most of us aren't superior to your average Joe in that regard. If a bunch of youtube celebs, gaming sites and a few companies endorse it, we will probably use Gameroom. If FB make it painless to integrate games into Gameroom, developers will probably develop for it. UE support would be great for this, or Unity, or any other popular game development environment. Tick the "build for Gameroom" box and away you go? Bargain!

    29. Re: Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by Ranbot · · Score: 1

      On screen controllers typically. The merits of different game platforms is irrelevant though, because the millions of casual gamers who play games like FarmVille, Candy Crush, Mobile Strike, etc. show with their actions and money spent that they vastly prefer mobile phone/tablets to other mediums. They do not want their gaming tethered to a another device and Facebook's Gameroom is not changing that fundamental fact. The "hardcore" gamers are already on Steam, Xbox, or Playstation networks, and Gameroom is not giving them incentive to switch, and the connection to one's Facebook friends is a disincentive for many.

    30. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Poisoned to anyone who knows the problems with big data.

    31. Re: Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by tepples · · Score: 1

      An onscreen controller, even with thumbstick works surprisingly well

      It didn't work well for me. When I tried Pixeline and the Jungle Treasure for Android, I kept accidentally pressing outside the active area of the on-screen controller. With a Bluetooth keyboard, though, it was fine.

    32. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by b783719 · · Score: 1

      lol, minecraft is more my thing.

      Your secret affinity for Minecraft dating sims is safe for now. FTFY.

    33. Re: Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by AndrewMontana · · Score: 0

      And occulus rift exclusive FarmVille.

    34. Re:Facebook is poisoned brand with gamers by KingBenny · · Score: 1

      dotslash agree ... and actually thats what we've been waiting for after origin and whats that other thing from ubisoft ? .... ANOTHER PLATFORM so theres MORE clutter pardon my crAPPS ... i dont think this will go down well with what i consider to be pc-gamers but it might sink in with zyngacrowd (does zynga still exist cos ... i have been living under a rock for a while
      i sometimes wonder where these people do their research ... there is no beating the Gabe on this i'm afraid

      --
      Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
  4. Because by Luthair · · Score: 5, Insightful

    PC Gamers have had such a glowing response to EA's Origin and Ubisoft's UPlay.

    1. Re:Because by tnok85 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And we trust Facebook even more than Origin and UPlay! Only thing I'm worried about - does Facebook have enough clout to get real 'exclusives'? The only reason Origin has traction is because of exclusives (Mass Effect, Battlefield games, etc) and UPlay used to force install with games bought on Steam (I think I had to have it installed to play Driver). EA/Origin also produce the games themselves, so they have a lot more clout in restricting them to certain delivery platforms.

    2. Re:Because by mjwx · · Score: 2

      PC Gamers have had such a glowing response to EA's Origin and Ubisoft's UPlay.

      This. I've pretty much stopped buying EA and Ubisoft games because I cant get them without Origin or Uplay.

      To beat Steam, you have to be better than Steam. If you exclude steam and try to force people onto your own crappy platform you'll just drive more people to piracy.

      I usually try GOG first, especially for Indie games, but Steam is a useful, non-intrusive platform that hasn't screwed up on me in years... Unlike Origin that decided to delete my games and force me to re-download them (this is why I uninstalled it and never went back).

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    3. Re:Because by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'll admit to buying a few games that require Origin, only the Bioware titles, and anything I could get for free using a Steam key. I haven't purchased anything on Uplay. There have been games I wanted, but refused to buy because of the Uplay requirement. Fortunately it worked out for me because the games didn't really deliver. I'm looking at you Watch Dogs.

    4. Re:Because by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And we trust Facebook even more than Origin and UPlay!

      Surely you jest.

    5. Re:Because by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To beat Steam, you have to be better than Steam

      In fairness Steam has plenty of problems, but it's a by-and-large well tested system and it isn't owned by a company which primarily makes money by selling your personal data. They've also thankfully stayed far away from anything more sociable than "here's a forum to discuss that game you like" and "we'll let you know when a friend is playing a game so you can join in".

      When the Facebook target build is active in the Unity Editor, you can use the Facebook SDK for Unity API to share content with Facebook friends

      This is not how you build something which is better than Steam, and neither is pairing up with Unity which, although it runs some very good games, also has lots of microtransaction infested, pay-to-win crappy shovelware.

    6. Re:Because by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yeah, GOG is the only platform that currently has a chance of competing with steam and that's because in some ways, it's significantly better than steam. But even they don't try to push people to their platform with exclusives. Though CD Projekt Red (the owners of GOG) made the Witcher 3, the game was available on many different distribution channels, not just GOG. And even then, GOG succeeds because what it does better, but it doesn't dominate because steam still does a lot of other things better.

    7. Re:Because by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You are not the only one. My friends usually get a little upset when I wont buy games for Uplay.

      I have been boycotting every game from UbiSoft that contains DRM since StarForce. I only buy UbiSoft games from GOG.

      And fuck no to any more companies that force me to create an account just to play single player or LAN.

    8. Re:Because by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You might want to get your sarcasm meter checked out.

    9. Re:Because by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm serious and don't call me Shirley.

    10. Re:Because by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah, that makes sense now. Fecesbook. Have to out-shitty the shittiest stuff...

    11. Re:Because by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What the hell is UPlay?

      And the only reason I know what Origin is is because Mass Effect 3 was exclusive to it.

    12. Re:Because by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its a shame but I heard people defending this services all of a sudden.

  5. Do Not Want by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Free from the distractions of newsfeed"

    So, they've made more room for ads?

  6. Sign me up! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just what the world needs.

    Another platform where you pay and pay and pay, and have zero rights post-purchase as a consumer. They don't like you? Your account goes poof, and everything in it. Business not doing so well? Servers shut down. What can you do if any of this happens? Absolutely nothing, because the EULA inevitably says "Service not guaranteed" and/or "We can disable your account for absolutely no reason at all".

  7. Hello. by dohzer · · Score: 1

    Hello ads.

  8. Wow I can't wait... /s by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

    Looking forward to seeing this platform. I assume it will be full of shit like Farmville, Candy Crush, etc. and have new and inventive ways to annoy the piss out of everybody with requests and notifications.

  9. Not really competition. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Gameroom let users play web, ported mobile and native Gameroom games in a dedicated PC app free from the distractions of the News Feed."

    How does this compete with Steam? Gameroom is a app/web-browser that lets you run web-games in it. Pretty much what facebook has had for many of years, except now it's stand alone.

    Whereas Steam distributes stand alone programs to your computer and you can run the binaries separate from Steam (Assuming no DRM or Steam ON API calls.)
    These programs typically run natively on your OS and not in a Virtual Machine in your app/webbrowser.

    So I don't see how they compete against each other. They're not even aimed at the same markets.
    (Don't get me wrong, I hate Steam. Their platform is buggy as hell and their royalty rates suck...)

    1. Re:Not really competition. by MindStalker · · Score: 2

      Yep, this is about web games only. That said, WebGL is becoming a powerful replacement, its certainly better than Flash. With Unity now providing an export to WebGL option. Its nice in a way to see WebGL take off. Sure this isn't the future of PC gaming, but it certainly can be a great opportunity for hobbyist and small publishers. It would be smart of Steam to support WebGL games to some degree.

    2. Re: Not really competition. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can run fucking Unreal Engine 3 and Quake 3 in browsers. (And likely even recent versions these days)
      Piss off, it isn't the 90s anymore. JavaScript can multithread and runs faster than pretty much every scripting language out there now. To even call it scripting is almost incorrect.
      The WebGL context for Canvas is balls-deep in FPS.
      This whole "hah it's just a browser game" hasn't had any weight for nearly 10 years.

      The speed of JS is fine for well over 70% of the games on Steam.
      The only ones that might suffer are memory-heavy games. Or the small percentage out there that actually do rely heavily on brute CPU strength. (Including the horrible, unoptimized shitheaps)

      The issues of "JS is so slow" has nothing to do with JS exclusively, it is the horrific DOM spec that has insane overhead.
      It really needs to be scrapped already.
      New, incompatible spec along with JS Harmony. Fund it. Backwards compatibility is the reason we are stuck with the shitheap of DOM and W3C-era bloat.
      Those wanks tried to force their dusty fingers in to the Canvas spec as well, which was promptly met with a swift "piss off" by most of the web development community.

  10. That's exactly what I want. by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That's exactly what I want. My real name associated with the games I play, and have ads tailored to me based upon any games I play.

    I only have steam because I have to. I refuse to install anything that requires Origin or UPlay- I sure as fudge won't install Facegames! I don't care if they get exclusive games, I've never been the sort to fall for peer pressure. "Oh you have to play this game that's only on Origin"- no I really don't. There are plenty of games on Steam. More games than I'll ever get around to playing. Exclusives are for idiots.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    1. Re:That's exactly what I want. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      quit whining and go to Good Old Games gog.com FFS

    2. Re:That's exactly what I want. by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      quit whining and go to Good Old Games gog.com FFS

      I like GOG, but their content is rather limited. They're improving the last few years though, selling more than just old crap now.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  11. Confusing branding for gamers by HalAtWork · · Score: 1

    Gamers might associate the name with Microsoft's lackluster Game Room platform for emulated games on the Xbox 360 and Windows PC/phone. They over-pro!mised and under-delivered, being slow to add new games as well as charging fees to import supported games users already purchased.

    --
    Twinstiq, game news
    1. Re:Confusing branding for gamers by boarder8925 · · Score: 1
      From the Wikipedia article the parent linked:

      Earlier in 2015, game packs and other DLC became unavailable for Xbox 360.[4] Currently as of November 2015, it is not possible to download or re-download the content[5] and there have been reports of users not being able to access the games even when they had purchased them.

      Classic Microsoft -- games that can be PlayedForSure!

      --
      Keep your eyes to the sky.
    2. Re:Confusing branding for gamers by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Solitaire isn't even a free Windows game any longer.

  12. More facebook spyware. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Great, so now facebook wants to collect information on my gaming habits to sell to advertisers.

    Fuck you, Zuckerberg.

  13. 125m users? by 110010001000 · · Score: 2

    Steam has 125 million active users? That doesn't seem possible. Pretty amazing if true though!

    1. Re:125m users? by Coisiche · · Score: 1

      Depends on how loose your definition of "active" is. The wikipedia page says this of Steam, "The service has over 125 million registered accounts. Steam has had as many as 12.5 million concurrent users as of November 2015."

    2. Re:125m users? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      I am not totally repulsed by the Steam DRM mechanism. When they try to coerce it into becoming a social network I back away, though.

      It is ALWAYS a disappointment, however, when I purchase a boxed physical PC game and discover shortly after opening it and trying to install it that it's another 'Steam' game. It isn't always very well labeled as such on the packaging. Sometimes it's very deep in the fine print.

    3. Re:125m users? by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 1

      Yeah, stay the hell away from the message boards and the "community hubs" in general. Use the friends list for actual friends that you like to play with online, sell all cards you get from playing games, 50 cents off a game here and there adds up, and only costs you a few clicks.

      --
      Eat the rich.
  14. Dear Facebook by fishscene · · Score: 2

    No. The only thing you do well is sell as much of me as you can to the highest bidder. The less you know about me and everyone else, the better off humanity is. Sincerely, An American with common sense.

    1. Re: Dear Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      If you're an American with common sense, you are in the minority.

    2. Re: Dear Facebook by Maritz · · Score: 0, Troll

      If you're the American with common sense, you are in the minority.

      FTFY

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    3. Re: Dear Facebook by fishscene · · Score: 1

      Maybe I should form a special interest group and start lobbying for special rights. #CommonSenseMatters after all. :) (I can poke fun at our own idiocy)

    4. Re:Dear Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >The less you know about me and everyone else, the better off humanity is.
      Hallelujah! By Hawking's Chair, sing it from the rooftops!

  15. It will be oculus users only option by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You can be sure this is to capture more oculus exclusives and force people to use this platform to play them.

  16. Windows? by pecosdave · · Score: 0

    Excluded all of my computers already.

    Besides, I've had to fix one too many Facebook games invoked issues on other peoples systems. I've blocked my family members from being able to send me game invites.

    --
    The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
    1. Re:Windows? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What? Are they using Windows on a gaming PC? That's crazy! They should have used Linux instead! Just look at the adoption rate in Steam, it's clear that Linux is the future of gaming!

      And it's free software with free freedom and it's gluten free!

    2. Re:Windows? by pecosdave · · Score: 1

      This is not a whoosh moment.

      I firmly believe all video games from a couple of years ago forward (not meant for consoles) should be developed for Linux first. This makes the Mac port fairly easy and gets the game onto the Steambox.

      Then they can worry about a Windows port.

      Seems to work well for the games made with this mindset, and has for a couple of decades, especially with Unreal, Quake, Doom, etc... Engine games. In fact if you make a game with one of those engines and it isn't ported to multiple platforms it just makes the developer an asshole.

      --
      The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
    3. Re:Windows? by Kiwikwi · · Score: 1

      Sorry, no.

      As much as I like platform diversity, and as much as I primarily game on non-Windows OS'es, it simple does not make financial sense to develop for Linux first.

      The only fiscally responsible thing is to develop primarily for the platform where the most paying customers are... and for desktop games, that's Windows. Because even with engines like Unreal and Unity simplifying cross-platform development, it's never free to support additional platforms. You need developers with platform experience, you need testers on the platform. For Linux, you have to worry about distribution fragmentation, and for OS X, about Apple breaking backwards compatibility. And while I laud companies that launch on Windows, OS X and Linux simultaneously, that's definitely a gamble. If your game tanks on Windows, the OS X and Linux sales are likely also gonna tank, and will not cover the costs of supporting those additional platforms. (Though obviously, this risk has to be weighed against the risks of staggered platform releases...)

      Disclosure: I am a Unity employee (but not working in an area related to the Facebook announcement).

  17. Only Unity supported by edxwelch · · Score: 1

    According to the FAQ, native games have to use Unity - no other engine is supported. Also there is a 200MB limit to the size of the game.

    1. Re:Only Unity supported by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Also there is a 200MB limit to the size of the game.

      The original Doom game installer fits on a single floppy diskette.

      Size matters, but not nearly as much as some people think.

    2. Re:Only Unity supported by edxwelch · · Score: 1

      so.... the original Doom game would be ok for size, but it still wouldn't pass the "Unity only" restriction.

    3. Re:Only Unity supported by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Rebuild it in Unity and it might not fit the size restriction.

      That code was _tight_.

  18. So... it's for web games only.... by mark-t · · Score: 1

    ... but works only on Windows PCs

    Can somebody please explain to me the logic here?

    --
    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    1. Re:So... it's for web games only.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's Fecesbook. Everything they do has no purpose and is shitty.

  19. Steam, only with creepy privacy invasion? by Maritz · · Score: 1

    Where do I sign up?

    --
    I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    1. Re:Steam, only with creepy privacy invasion? by unixisc · · Score: 1

      You mean, as opposed to Steam logging how many hours you play each game? Like so far, I have 12 hours of the new Civilization VI game - which incidentally sucks: you can't name yourself, your civilization, your cities, and worst of all - if your city starts building something, you can't change it until it's complete

    2. Re:Steam, only with creepy privacy invasion? by Maritz · · Score: 1

      Steam logs of time played are to be taken with a gigantic pinch of salt. Timer can keep running even though game isn't. Alt-tab out and forget about the game for a day and boom, an extra 24 hours 'time played'.

      Steam thinks I've played Torchlight 2 for fifty hours. It's closer to one hour.

      I believe you can reset that counter if you want, in any case.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    3. Re:Steam, only with creepy privacy invasion? by unixisc · · Score: 1

      This is right. There are times when, in the midst of a game, I've gone out w/o exiting the game, and returned hours later to resume. So it does add those hours to my play time. However, in the above case, I did really play for 12 hours this new game of theirs. That said, I'd love to know how and where to reset that.

    4. Re:Steam, only with creepy privacy invasion? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've racked up so many hours in Steam games while sitting at the bar nowhere near my computer.

    5. Re:Steam, only with creepy privacy invasion? by Cederic · · Score: 1

      I quite like that log.

      If nothing else, it tells me that I may as well stop fretting about the price and just buy FM17: its predecessors are some of my most played games, I'll get far better value for money than almost anything else I can buy for more than a quid.

    6. Re:Steam, only with creepy privacy invasion? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Timer can keep running even though game isn't.

      I have thousands of hours logged in one game, because Steam was counting the launcher - not the actual game itself - being open as playtime.

    7. Re:Steam, only with creepy privacy invasion? by Chelmet · · Score: 1

      worst of all - if your city starts building something, you can't change it until it's complete

      Erm, you definitely can change what a city is currently building. I'm thinking about how to do it, and I'm coming up blank on how you would find it confusing, there are several intuitive ways to do it, two of which are:

      1) Click City, click 'Contrruction', click what you want to build.
      2) On the City's bar (over the city itself, not the UI overlay), click the cogwheel at the right hand side; this will bring up the construction menu.

  20. Valve should release their best selling game on... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Valve should release their game collecting game on Gameroom.

  21. s/standards/gaming platforms/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Feels just like a standards competition: https://xkcd.com/927/

  22. Just what I needed (not!) by King_TJ · · Score: 1

    Why does it seem like Facebook is working like mad, lately, to re-invent wheels and give people stuff they don't need?

    In the last couple weeks or so, I heard about them offering a commercial version of Facebook to act like your internal Intranet, and an IM client for corporate use (because Slack isn't any good!?), and now this.

    Like someone else already said, it's already extremely annoying if you use Windows for gaming that you're usually stuck loading at least 3 major clients/managers to play a collection of popular games. You've got Steam, but then you've got the Ubisoft launcher AND the EA launcher. And probably a fourth one for Blizzard's stuff, too.

    I'd like to see it all consolidated somehow .... like Steam working a deal so after you buy an item via one of those competitor's game managers/laumchers, they support migrating it in so you can just use Steam to launch it after that. I certainly DON'T want yet another one, from Facebook of all people!

    1. Re:Just what I needed (not!) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why does it seem like Facebook is working like mad, lately, to re-invent wheels and give people stuff they don't need?

      That's what happens when you have a shitload of money and no real business model.

    2. Re:Just what I needed (not!) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's literally how it was. Everything just worked through Steam. And then Ubi and EA decided they needed to have their own ignorant-ass Uplay and Origin bullshit.

    3. Re:Just what I needed (not!) by Ranbot · · Score: 1

      That's literally how it was. Everything just worked through Steam. And then Ubi and EA decided they needed to have their own ignorant-ass Uplay and Origin bullshit.

      I agree and I like Steam. However, Steam is just a middle-man service that makes ungodly amounts of money for Valve, with relatively little effort or risk on their part compared to making actual games. You have to expect that others in the industry would try to get a piece of that market, especially when the Steam's user base was forcing them to sell on Steam and fork over transactions fees to their competitor.

  23. Convenience... by Stormy+Dragon · · Score: 1

    So now when that 13 year old gets pissed you beat him, it will be extra easy for him to start harassing you outside the game because he has your real name and the names of your family, friends, and co-workers!

  24. In other news, Valve is shut down today... by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 1

    In other news, Valve is shut down today. It seems all the employees are helplessly rolling around on the floor laughing.

    --
    Do you have ESP?
  25. Nope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is facebook even good for? Posting selfies, and watching your acquaintances' selfies, and complimenting each other? Don't need the validation, thanks, just a good space game that is a crossbreed between Elite Dangerous, X3 and iWar.

  26. Ruining the Occulus reputation, I see. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is a bad move for Facebook. Hardcore gamers are going to start hating Facebook, Amazon and everyone else who's trying to play this market.

    Blizzard may be the next hate target.

  27. Uninformed opinions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Would have clicked facebook links to read all about gameroom only all of *.facebook.com doesn't quite resolve on this network. Even if resolution worked every network announced by 32934 is blocked.

    I'm sure Facebook may find oblivious customers interested in puzzle games and zombie farming to buy from them.

    When it comes to actual gamers? HEELLLLL NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

  28. Re:Dear Facebook (they know) by gosand · · Score: 1

    I don't have a FB account.

    However, I have used WhatsApp for a few years now. As I understand it, it is used a lot in other countries too. I have used Instagram for a couple of years now as well. Now that FB owns them, I guess they know a lot more about me than I want. While I don't use my real name on either... i am sure the dots can be connected.

    If you don't use either of those, it is probably a matter of time before they acquire something that you do use.

    --

    My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

  29. And nobody should download it. by iCEBaLM · · Score: 1

    Seriously. Don't download it. There's no benefit to you, only facebook.

  30. How about no by mangamaster03 · · Score: 1

    They are wasting their time. If I'm gonna insult someone's mother, her firstborn, and their entire household, I'm sure as hell not gonna do it with my real name showing up from facebook.

  31. Oculus exclusives by tepples · · Score: 1

    Facebook owns Oculus. Is that not enough clout to get exclusives?

    1. Re:Oculus exclusives by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean that thing that's slowly being killed by the HTC Vive that also works with Steam?

  32. I can still hear the theme from Star Force by tepples · · Score: 1

    I have been boycotting every game from UbiSoft that contains DRM since StarForce.

    In other words, since 1984. This means you missed Buck Bumble, which has the same DRM that all N64 games have.

  33. Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hopefully this will keep those facebook games where they belong instead of wasting my time on steam.

  34. Least important by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

    So FB has cloned the least important feature of Steam?

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  35. good luck with that by Charcharodon · · Score: 1

    and I just officially announced I will never, nor will any of the children in my household ever be using said service.

  36. Re:Dear Facebook (they know) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you value your privacy, you have to stop using any company that gets bought by Facebook. I used to pay for music streaming from Spotify till they got bought, at which point I cancelled and used the Data Protection Act to have my personal data deleted before Facebook got access to it.

    I don't think you have an equivalent to the DPA in the US, but you should still try to remove as much data as possible before buy outs.