How to Stream Games to Facebook

You like games right? Of course you do, and it’s time the whole world saw you pubstomp lobby after lobby in Call of Duty, obliterate your opponents defence before sending a rocket into the top corner in FIFA or doing whatever it is that you kids do (and I can’t) in Fortnite.

There are plenty of different platforms any aspiring video game streamer can use to show off those devastatingly rage inducing headshots from the other end of the map, but if you’d prefer to flaunt those skills on the social media giant, you’re in luck. 

According to TechCrunch, Facebook Live surpassed popular streaming platform ‘Mixer’ this year (2019) with 197.76 million hours viewed, with its sights set on catching ‘Youtube Live’ it’s no surprise that Facebook is becoming the obvious choice for new streamers.

Here’s everything you’re going to need.

– The device you play your games on (Playstion, Xbox etc.)
– Streaming software
– A PC /laptop (to run your streaming software on)
– A capture card
– A Facebook page
– Determination and Patience

Got all that? Neither did I during my first attempt at streaming, run out and get everything you need, I’ll wait here…

Step 1. Create a Facebook Page

Now that you’ve bought, borrowed and stolen your way to owning the adequate set up, you’re one step closer to having twelve million people watch you play Call of Duty from your mansion in the Bahamas. 

This first step is nice and easy, create yourself a fresh page using the name you’ll be streaming under, don’t get lazy and use one of your already made ‘cat meme’ pages. It’ll just get confusing.  

One important thing to remember when creating your page is to make sure you set the ‘category’ to ‘Gaming Video Creator’ and change the ‘template’ to ‘Video Template’. After uploading your artwork and writing a few posts, your page should look something like this.

Step 2. Create Live Stream

After wiring up your game system, PC and your capture card, head over to https://www.facebook.com/live/create and click ‘create live stream’

Step 3. Posting Your Stream

Next, you’ll be met with a drop-down menu asking where to post your stream, (groups, pages or your timeline) make sure to choose the page you created earlier.

Step 4. Stream Keys

Copy the stream key from the Facebook Creator Portal (image 1) and then paste it into the settings section of your streaming app (image 2)

Step 5. Lure Them in

After selecting the game you’ll be playing, give your stream an interesting title to lure viewers in like ‘free cake’ 

Throw a few relevant tags in to help fans of your chosen game find your stream, then you’re all set.

Step 6. Going Live

Head over to the streaming app, after hitting ‘go live’ there, you’ll need to click back over to your Facebook Creator Portal. Give it a few seconds and you’ll notice a preview of your game feed with the option to click GO LIVE! Now there’s only one thing left to do…