Google has just officially announced that they will tackle video game streaming with their new YouTube Gaming. It feels like a direct attack to Twitch and their service.
Google’s new platform will add all of Twitch’s features, while sporting a few new ideas of its own. Gamers will be able to share their original content as easily as they would have on Twitch.
YouTube Gaming is set to launch sometime this Summer, and users can be a part of the new platform by sharing Let’s Play content, and other live streams, in a different hub – separate from YouTube itself.
According to product manager Alan Joyce, and his statement on the YouTube official blog – ” YouTube Gaming is built to be all about favorite games and gamers, with more videos than anywhere else. From Asteroids to Zelda, more than 25,000 games will each have their own page, a single place for all the best videos and live streams about that titles. You’ll also find channels from a wide array of game publishers and YouTube creators.”
Alan also added that their new platform will be centred around live streaming, but the company doesn’t discourage gamers to upload their original content. As you might have known already, YouTube Gaming will let gamers easily live stream at 60 frames per second, automatically converting their video without problems.
The platform’s in-built search engine will be modified around games, so if you are to search for Lego, you’ll get Lego Worlds, and other Lego related game results, and not videos about the real-life Lego bricks.
YouTube Gaming will be Twitch’s direct challenger, which is now the go-to place for video-game streamers around the world. Twitch is owned by Amazon, and their latest report states that they have a monthly audience of over 100 million viewers at the end of 2014.
Google will be present at this year’s E3 conference, and they will most likely detail their new live streaming platform. What we do know at the moment is that their new service will be launched in the US, and UK. For those of you living in Europe, don’t despair, the platform will come eventually – maybe even at the end of 2015, but rumours have it that it will be released sometime in the early 2016.
PewDiePie is the most known Let’s Play streamer.
It is unknown at the moment if Google will offer this service to Asia, Australia, or other zones.
If you want to be notified about details regarding YouTube Gaming, follow their official channel on Twitter – it’s up and running!
I can’t wait to stream playing The Witcher 3 – I need to let people know how much Roach sucks, and what a bad horsey he is!
Are you going to change venues from Twitch to YouTube? Tell us in the comments section below!
