On Monday, Facebook Gaming announced a new process for accounts with past live streams on their platform. They have added expiration dates for past live streams in their Live Dashboard to help creators identify which videos and live streams are expiring and when. While the update hasn’t reached all content creators, the change will apply to all Gaming Video Creators over the next week and can be expected to be subject for removal as early as May 26.
Facebook Gaming shared date intervals for various creator accounts:
- Gaming Video Creators (not in Level Up or Partner programs): Videos will expire after 30 days
- Level Up creators: Videos will expire after 90 days
- Partner creators: Videos will expire after 180 days
Most creators can expect on this day moving forward that current and future live streams will automatically set to expire at the set intervals listed above of 30, 90 or 180 days from when they were streamed. Others within the history of your Facebook Gaming account could be removed as early as May 26, so they advised to check your Live Dashboard to verify those dates and which videos would be affected.
If you wish to keep your content, we at Center Step Gaming advise you to review your account history and download any past streams in the highest resolution possible (720p or 1080p) and create a backup on a local computer or storage device. You can also create, edit and save any stream highlights and use them in your account. It is still unclear if these will be wiped or not at the set intervals above, so leave a comment below if you see new expiration dates for any new highlights you create.
It’s important to note that Stars, Subscriptions or regularly uploaded videos (not live streams) are not affected or associated with this change.
There is already less than a month to start tackling your data and content, so if you are an avid creator, there are a couple options for you that the marketing gurus at Center Step Gaming recommend.
First, re-upload your streams as VOD’s (regular videos) to keep a history of your streams. While you may lose your live chat history and a few other elements, the nature of your content will stay with your page. YouTube is also another fantastic place to upload your full streams and keep an online database of your career.
Second, record your streams locally, if your computer is able. We always recommend keeping a backup of your live streams for multiple reasons, and this is one of those. While rumors were floating around of Facebook Gaming making these changes, one month for some daily creators can mean a lot of content to review, download, backup or highlight.
Third, having an agency that has your back like Center Step Gaming would already be on top of this for you. Whether using a cloud storage like Google Drive or DropBox, or re-uploading videos to your Facebook Gaming page or YouTube channel will allow you to focus on creating more content for your audience and fans, rather than the added stress of wondering what will happen with your career up to this point.
Facebook Gaming mentions they “want to provide you ample time to download any previously-lives and highlight clips you want to keep.” Not all content creators can do that within a month given the amount of content they have. Hiring a content creation agency can help alleviate those concerns. Contact us at Center Step Gaming for a free quote and marketing plan to see how we can help further your career.
