Facebook to establish gaming specific team in Europe

Facebook will establish a new team in Europe to handle the platform's game developers in the region, it has emerged.

Several European companies have become major players in the network's gaming ecosystem and Facebook will acknowledge that with a territory-specific team of engineers, account managers and support staff, much like the team it has in the US.

"In the US, we have a team of engineers, product managers and partnerships folks who only do gaming, from Zynga down to two-person shops. Now we're creating that same unit in Europe too," Facebook's directpr of EMEA business development Christian Hernandez told The Guardian.

"We're in the third generation of the Facebook platform for gaming," adds Hernandez, calling the prior period a "mad scramble for what the heck this platform was, with not-very high-quality games," and the second generation that which launched Farmville and the new wave of socially competitive titles.

"Now we're in the third evolution of the gaming platform, as the world-building and social/casual space has begun to consolidate."

Hernandez also told the Guardian that he sees the EMEA region as  "the most interesting region in terms of the innovation on top of the Facebook platform in gaming," whilst admitting a certain professional bias. However, he is planning to back up his claim by hosting three events which will specifically explore the mobile aspect of Facebook gaming, each held in what he considers to be a hub of development talent within the region.

The events, which will host around 250-300 people, will be attended by a team of US and European Facebook engineers and will take place in London, Stockholm and Tel Aviv. Dates of these conferences, and whether they'll be invite only, remains to be established.