The game streaming platform wars are here.
The videogame industry is often all about the race between Xbox and Sony. But today’s modern day tech war might just be between Google and Amazon. After months of talking about it, Google has officially launched YouTube Gaming, a video game-streaming portal that will rival Amazon-owned Twitch.
Immediate reaction by fans in the comments of a YouTube video was positive. A user going by the name “Jackalam” said: “This is gonna be the biggest internet war since Xbox vs Sony vs PC (master race).” A second gamer, “Cobrus” said in all caps “I’ve been waiting for this all summer.”
Google listed three things that you need to know about its service:
- YouTube Gaming is your go-to destination for anything and everything gaming because it automatically pulls in all gaming-related videos and live streams from YouTube.
- Viewers get personalized gaming recommendations based on the games and channels they collect. With over 25,000 game pages and even more gaming channels, it’s never been easier to connect with your gaming community.
- We’ve also made it easier to create a live stream — check out the beta version of our new way to go live at youtube.com/stream today.
In other words, starting on day one, YouTube intends on having a ton of content, culled from the thousands of existing game-related videos on YouTube.
Google was named as one of the top bidders for Twitch, but lost out to Amazon, which surprisingly stepped in at the last minute to scoop Twitch up for $970 million.
In reaction to the launch, Twitch nervously bragged yesterday about its massive head start: It has 1.5 million broadcasters, 100 million viewers per month who watch 106 minutes per person per day on average, and 38 million installs of our mobile app with 4.7 billion minutes watched across 10.3 million unique devices.
YouTube Gaming is available today on YouTube, or through phone and tablet apps for Google Play and iOS. Over the next few hours, it says it will be live in the U.S. and UK with additional countries coming soon.
In the announcement, YouTube Gaming’s Frank Petterson, Engineering Manager thanked everyone for helping YouTube with the launch: “Together, we all make gaming better. Our peers make us better gamers, and games are made better by the communities that surround them. Thanks for your feedback as we brought you YouTube Gaming, and keep it coming. This is just the beginning.”
For those attending PAX Prime in Seattle this weekend, you can check out YouTube Gaming in person at its booth and during a stage show.
