Facebook is set to get an "all-new PC gaming platform" powered by a publishing partnership with Unity, the company has announced. Basically, Facebook and Unity are working together to streamline the development process for games published on Facebook's forthcoming platform, meaning exporting and publishing to Facebook from Unity should be easier.
"This will allow Unity developers to quickly deliver their games to the more than 650 million players who enjoy playing Facebook-connected games every month," the announcement on Facebook's developer website states.
If Facebook intends to go big with its platform – ie, if it intends to compete with the likes of Steam – scooping up the impossibly huge collection of games developed in Unity is a decent start. A closed-alpha build is currently available to select studios, but no timeframe for the roll-out of the platform proper was provided. The company hasn't indicated whether it intends to sell non-Unity games on its platform.
The integration will only work with titles using Unity 5.4 and above. That version launched earlier this year, ushering in "enhanced visuals, better performance, tighter Unity IAP integration and a major VR rendering upgrade."
