The guys from Arstechnica.com give us a long tour around YouTube’s alternative to Twitch.
Announced last week, YouTube Gaming is coming this summer to become Twitch’s biggest competition. It is Google’s first step into game streaming services after the company was unable to close the deal with Twitch itself last year. Despite being in talks to acquire the streaming giant, Google reportedly backed off due to concerns about potential antitrust issues and ultimately, Twitch went on to be purchased by Amazon in August 2014 for $970M in cash.
Now, YouTube Gaming is labeled as the “Twitch killer”, or at least the product that has the highest chances of doing so, after alternative streaming companies like Azubu and Hitbox are nowhere near the reach of Twitch. The official YouTube Gaming website is still just a landing page but Arstechnica.com made a stop at the YouTube offices to get a hands-on with the new streaming platform. And at least in several aspects, it looks to be bringing features still unavailable over at Twitch.
The first, of course, is the ever so flexible YouTube player and its “continually updated seek bar called DNR mode.” Unlike Twitch, YouTube Gaming will allow to pause and rewind streams, so viewers could easily go back to moments they might’ve missed.
Being YouTube-based means that users will be able to find game-related videos on the platform with ease. Just finished watching a Dota 2 stream? Click on “Related” and you might find great Dota 2 plays from a recent tournament or that much needed Queen of Pain video guide you’ve been searching for.
The game pages also look richer. Where a standard game page on Twitch will give you the live streamers and videos, YouTube Gaming’s offer all sorts of information, from Wikipedia “About” entry, to Live/Popular filters, Explore tab, Let’s Plays section, Reviews content and even channels and videos associated with the game developer as a whole.
Streamers will also have flexible control of what content they want to display on their channel. In an example with Riot’s main esports channel, we can see tabs which list not only live channels but also upcoming/completed events, and teaser/spotlight videos, all sorted out for viewer’s convenience.
With new, actually capable competition on the market, Twitch has to step up its game. The platform has operated unopposed for years now, but YouTube is different. As author Ron Amadeo from Arstechnica points out, “every single one of Twitch’s users is already a YouTube user” and “even Twitch made exporting to YouTube very easy”. Expect live streaming to be drastically changed this summer, and all for the better.
All screenshots from: Arstechnica.com
