Facebook has taken a big step towards joining Google, Xbox and PlayStation through the acquisition of cloud-gaming company PlayGiga.

With a partnership library covering over 300 games, Spanish PlayGiga had already forged distribution partnerships in Argentina and Chile, Qatar, Italy and its native Spain.

The company used proprietary technology to provide low-latency game streaming and in 2019 had been positioning itself to take advantage of 5G data connections as pertaining to mobile and virtual reality gaming.

Recently, Facebook provided a centralized focus for video game content on the Facebook platform -- videos, livestreams, groups and its selection of Instant Games -- through a Facebook Gaming Tab, which debuted in March 2019.

In November 2019, Facebook subsidiary Oculus Studios announced the acquisition of Beat Games, the studio behind standard-setting VR title "Beat Saber."

Sony's PlayStation division acquired Gaikai in 2012 in a $380m deal, subsequently launching cloud gaming subscription service PlayStation Now in 2014.

Microsoft's Xbox is developing Project xCloud, anticipated for use with its Xbox Series X consoles debuting Holiday 2020.

Google Stadia began a staggered launch in November 2019.

Steam took a different tack with the November 2019 introduction of a Remote Play Together feature, which lets people play local multiplayer games over the internet, with just one player required to own the title and the rest joining in for free.