SlashShout- Facebook just added a new esports tournament tool

Facebook just launched a new tool called Tournaments. This feature of Facebook allows users to create, join, and follow virtual game tournaments. And it isn’t some watered down functionality either. It includes the ability to register, seed, manage brackets, and score entries. Tournament formats even include single elimination, double elimination, or round robin tournaments. And the best part? Anyone can use it!

Capabilities of Tournaments

Facebook continues to make itself into a “one-stop shop for everything.” With regard to esports, that now includes “tournament organizers.” Prospective participants now find it easier to discover tournaments, in addition to providing developers and communities with an easier way to connect. Tournament creators can host tournaments and simultaneously stream. The Tournaments feature even includes charity tools to help creators raise funds for various causes.

📣Launch announcement…📣🎮🧵

1/ Social distancing means we have to be apart, but games can still bring us together. So today we’re opening early access to Facebook Gaming tournaments, a feature to help people stay connected through games. pic.twitter.com/rYOIXBcIHS
— Facebook Gaming #playaparttogether (@FacebookGaming) April 7, 2020

Admittedly, the product is in its early inception, which means it doesn’t have every feature a person could hope for. But that also means they acknowledge room for improvement and will continue to add new functionalities with time. Especially in this time of social distancing, gaming becomes one way for people to stay connected. Thus why Facebook has given early access to Tournaments. You can test it out now by navigating here.

The product is intended for every kind of tournament, from casual to high-level esports competitions. It’s built directly into the Facebook Gaming platform, which means creators can both host and stream tournaments live.

Picking up market share

Twitch still dominates the game streaming market, but Facebook Gaming is working hard to enter the market. As of the end of 2019, the platform held an 8.5% market share. Still, it saw a 210% increase in monthly viewership year-over-year. The Tournaments feature could help Facebook pick up even more market share by standing out from the competition.

As noted by The Verge, Twitch and other streaming platforms don’t have anything quite like this. Twitch Rivals is somewhat similar, but it functions by invite-only and is geared toward streamers and professional gamers, not the general public.

Ryan Goodrich

Ryan has been writing since long before he could even write. He's written resumes, software user guides, consumer electronic reviews, and myriad web content spanning a variety of industries. But now he's writing about video games, which is much more interesting.