YouTube Games - H 2015
Courtesy of YouTubeYouTube’s big push into the video game space is set to arrive Wednesday, Aug. 26.
The standalone app and website will offer more than 25,000 game-specific pages to make it easy for gamers to quickly find game-play clips and other content related to their favorite titles. It will also pull in video content and live streams from thousands of gaming-related channels.
“YouTube gaming brings you closer to the games, gamers and culture that matter to you,” said YouTube engineering manager Frank Petterson, adding that “together, we all make gaming better. Our peers make us better gamers, and games are made better by the communities that surround them.”
YouTube Gaming is the Google-owned streamer’s answer to video game live-streaming service Twitch, which YouTube was rumored to be interested in acquiring last year before it was ultimately scooped up by Amazon for $970 million. Twitch, which has 1.5 million total broadcasters and 100 million unique viewers each month, has been key to the growing industry of e-sports by making it easier for gamers to broadcast their game play to fans.
“The opportunity in gaming video is enormous, and others have clearly taken notice,” Twitch senior vp marketing Matthew DiPietro said in a statement. “We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished in the last four years, but our eyes are on the future…We are dedicated to being the best social, global, multi-screen video platform for gamers, period.”
Although YouTube hasn’t placed an emphasis on live game streaming until now, gaming has long been a part of the YouTube creator network, spawning stars including PewDiePie — the most popular YouTube creator with more than 38.8 million subscribers.
The launch of YouTube Gaming comes after months of testing with a group of invite-only users. Now, it is rolling out to users in the U.S. and U.K. for both Android and iOS devices.
