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Facebook Wants You to Livestream Your Virtual Reality Gaming

By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
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By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
March 10, 2017, 6:33 PM ET
Samsung

Facebook just made it easier for virtual reality video gamers to broadcast their car racing and space battles to their friends.

The tech giant said Friday that has debuted its Facebook livestreaming to the Samsung Gear VR headset. This means that Gear VR owners can broadcast their gaming sessions directly to Facebook’s social networking service so that others can watch the action.

The Samsung Gear VR is the virtual headset created in a partnership between Samsung and Facebook (FB). Facebook provides its Oculus VR software while Samsung manufactures the headsets.

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Unlike Facebook’s Oculus Rift VR headset that requires a computer to operate, the Gear VR is powered by Samsung phones with the Android operating system.

Facebook users who watch one of the Gear VR livestreams will see a first-person perspective of the gaming session in real time. They can also leave comments on Facebook that appear to the left of the gaming screen.

As of now, the livestreaming feature is only available to Gear VR owners who don’t live in the U.S., but Facebook said the feature would debut to everyone “in the coming weeks.”

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Facebook did not say when it would introduce its livestreaming feature to its Oculus Rift device. The social networking company premiered its livestreaming service to all of its users nearly a year ago.

About the Author
By Jonathan Vanian
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Jonathan Vanian is a former Fortune reporter. He covered business technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data privacy, and other topics.

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