Users of Meta’s standalone Facebook Gaming app have begun receiving notifications that it will soon be discontinued. The firm has announced that the iOS and Android versions of the programme would cease to function on October 28th via an in-app notification (as published by social media analyst Matt Navarra and other sites). Additionally, Meta offers users the option to export their search history and serves as a friendly reminder that Facebook Gaming is still available. Users will only need to access the Gaming tab in the main Facebook app to view livestreams from their preferred producers.

In order to compete with Twitch and YouTube more effectively, the company created the specific gaming app in 2020. In order to promote material from streamers and give users access to a group chat and other community features, Meta—then still known as Facebook—designed the app. It did not provide a reason for the decision to discontinue the standalone app, but it may have been made as part of cost-cutting measures to help the company survive “one of the worst downturns [the company has] faced in recent history,” according to Mark Zuckerberg.

When it comes to the number of hours seen on a game streaming platform over the past year, Facebook Gaming trails just Twitch, according to streaming tool vendors like StreamElements. However, we looked at data from CrowdTangle, Meta’s analytics service, and discovered that the website is overrun with spam and illegal content disguising itself as gaming livestreams. In order to give customers “the best experience,” a spokesman for Meta previously told Engadget that the company was “trying to strengthen [its] technologies to identify prohibited content.”