Facebook officially launches Gameroom, a casual rival to Steam

Facebook has officially launched Gameroom, a dedicated native Windows app for playing all of the various games available on Facebook. Facebook Gameroom is available now as a download for those using Windows 7 or newer.

Facebook previously announced that it was working on a game publishing platform as part of a partnership with Unity back in August. At the time, Facebook said that the partnership would bring support for publishing to Facebook's "PC gaming platform" (now Gameroom) through the Unity game development platform, allowing developers to easily bring their games to the millions that play Facebook games each month.

While Facebook Gameroom is certainly not likely to appeal to more hardcore gamers who are already invested in publishing platforms like Steam, it does present an interesting proposition for those who already enjoy Facebook's web-based games. The experience offered by Gameroom serves up the various casual titles offered through Facebook without the always-looming distraction of the newsfeed — something that's likely to keep people playing longer.

Will you be checking out Facebook Gameroom? Let us know what you think in the comments!

Download Facebook Gamefroom

Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl