Facebook speaks out over Google+ gaming

Facebook - it's only a game so put up a real good fight
Facebook - it's only a game so put up a real good fight

Facebook has spoken out about Google+ and its new gaming service, revealing that it is pushing itself to be better than the search giant.

It's no surprise that Google waded into the gaming sector with Google+. While it may look like a similar service to Facebook's on the surface, the big kicker for devs is that Google is only taking 5 per cent revenue from the games; Facebook on the other hand nabs 15 per cent.

Facebook director of game partnerships Sean Ryan spoke about the revenue difference and made a rather cutting but key remark.

"Google is at 5 per cent because they don't have any users," he noted at a recent event.

Getting better

Ryan also revealed that Facebook is keeping a close eye on Google+, and that it is searching for ways to improve its own gaming service.

"Google has emulated aspects of our system, which is what they have the right to do," he explained. "We just need to be better."

After the announcement by Google that it was adding games to Google+, Facebook hit back immediately with improvements of its own, including more screen real estate for gaming and a tickertape of information telling you what friends are playing what games.

This was a decent riposte, but the social network will be hoping that with the next announcement it won't be playing catch-up.

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.