Facebook acquires cloud gaming company PlayGiga for $78 million

Spanish cloud gaming company PlayGiga has been acquired by Facebook for a reported $78 million, according to CNBC.

Facebook confirmed the move on Twitter, but said it would "decline further comment for now." Meanwhile, a post on the PlayGiga website it will be "moving on to something new" within the world of cloud gaming. Both companies refused to comment on the price of the deal. 

Founded in 2013 and based in Madrid, PlayGiga had been running a cloud gaming service in Italy, Argentina, Chile, and Spain. The company seemingly had plans to bring its service to the Middle East, and had also signed notable content deals with over 60 game publishers including SEGA, Disney, Deep Silver, Square Enix, and Capcom. 

Those plans, however, appear to have been dropped in favor of a "new mission" under the Facebook banner. Right now, we can only speculate as to what that mission will be, but it wouldn’t be completely wild to suggest Facebook could be looking to take on the likes of Google Stadia and Project xCloud with a game streaming service of its very own. 

After all, this isn’t the first time Facebook has dropped significant cash in a bit to get ahead of the curve, with the company having spent $2 billion to purchase VR company Oculus back in 2014. 

Back then, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said VR would become the "platform of tomorrow," and the company has since tried to make good on that promise with the launch of the Oculus Rift S and standalone Oculus Quest headset.