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Blizzard now streams all PC games on Facebook Live in US, challenges Twitch

| Aug 28, 2016 08:34 PM EDT

"World of Warcraft: Cataclysm"

Blizzard Entertainment announced in June it was teaming up with Facebook to live-stream all of its PC games on the social giant's Facebook Live. "Overwatch", "Hearthstone", as well as the "Diablo" and "Warcraft" series are some of the supported games. Blizzard will not only allow live streaming of games but also add a Facebook login option to add the social functionality to its PC games.   

The live-streaming feature is now available in certain regions. That includes North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and South-East Asia. The game publisher is planning a global rollout for the near future.

Gamers must connect their Battle.net account to Facebook. They can then stream all of Blizzard's PC games to Facebook pages instead of just personal profiles.  

Only the developer's PC games can be broadcast to Facebook Live. However, Blizzard plans to add Mac games to the streaming service, according to Ubergizmo.    

Facebook is in a tough battle with Twitch. It is the industry leader of live game streaming but YouTube Gaming and Facebook Live are taking on the Amazon service.        

It is possible Activision could add other titles to the live-streaming service including "Call of Duty" and "Destiny". Other developers might entitle their games to be streamed on the social network.

Facebook also recently moved its live video button to a place that makes it easier to access on the mobile app. Users started noticing the change on August 24, Wednesday.

The button is now where "Status" was located. Facebook users who tap the button can begin livestreaming by hitting "Go Live".

Mobile live-streaming has become more competitive during the past year and the biggest players include Periscope, Meerkat, and Twitter.

In related news, NBC built new tech to stream the 2016 Summer Olympics. During the Rio Games the number of online viewers rose but the platform was not as good as traditional TV broadcasts.

 NBCUniversal chief Steve Burke explained that many younger TV viewers were in a Facebook or Snapchat "bubble". This resulted in fewer people watching Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, and Simone Biles on regular TV.

The Olympic Broadcasting Services shot the video feeds that were shared with NBC's media partners. Fiber links from Rio to Stamford, Connecticut allowed the Comcast company to remotely produce Olympic reports, according to The Verge.

Here's a trailer for "World of Warcraft: Legion":

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