Cloud gaming: Facebook buys PlayGiga

Facebook confirms the purchase of the PlayGiga cloud gaming platform for an estimated value of $ 78 million.
Facebook acquires PlayGiga, a cloud gaming platform, confirming the company's interest in the emerging sector of video game streaming and subscriptions. The Spanish publication Cinco Dias reported that the Madrid-based company PlayGiga has been looking for months for ways to obtain additional funds to develop its business activity. Now that it has captured Facebook's interest, an acquisition agreement of around 70 million euros ($ 78 million) has been made.

The social media giant confirmed the purchase from CNBC. The Facebook gaming team later said in a tweet

New life for the Spanish start-up

The price of the start-up has not been confirmed. Founded in 2013, PlayGiga offers consumers a monthly subscription to play on PC via streaming through the Cloud. There are games on the platform Sega, Disney, Capcom and Square Enix. The company has already raised $ 5 million with Series A financing. Previous investors include Adara, Inveready, Bankinter and Caixa Capital. Adara is the main shareholder of the platform.

Although PlayGiga has already operated in Europe, its activities are concentrated in Spain, Italy, Chile, Argentina, and Qatar. The start-up recorded losses of almost 2 million euros in fiscal 2018, due to expansion costs. At the same time, turnover reached around 2.8 million euros.

In a post on the PlayGiga website, the company said, “We are pleased to announce a new turning point for the PlayGiga team. Our work in the field of Cloud gaming continues, with a new mission. We would like to thank all of our partners and customers for their support from the start. Facebook has been exploring the world of gaming and virtual reality (VR) for the past few years. In 2014, the social network announced the acquisition of Oculus, manufacturer of VR headsets, for $ 2 billion.

However, the company is not alone in studying the potential of cloud gaming, which allows players to play on third-party hardware. They simply need a good connection, and not necessarily need to buy high-tech equipment sometimes necessary to run some recent games. Indeed, Google announced in May Stadia, a cloud gaming service compatible with televisions, PCs and certain mobile devices, offering up to 60 images / second at a resolution of 4K. We could go in the future to 120 frames / second and 8K.