After failing to buy Twitch, the search giant figured that the best option it has left is to create a similar streaming service. YouTube Gaming will be coming later this summer to help gamers show off in front of others.
The announcement comes just before E3 2015 (which will take place in LA between June 16-18), and since this is one of the most important tradeshow in the industry, we can expect Google to demonstrate YouTube Gaming then. Much like the Amazon-owned Twitch.TV, YouTube Gaming will enable users to subscribe to games in order to find out the latest news about upcoming releases or updates. Of course, the main goal is to follow livestreams of other gamers playing the game.
YouTube creators who specialize in vlogging about games will now have a place to call home, thanks to Google’s new website and app. Streaming will be made at 60fps in HTML5, which makes me believe that the gaming.youtube.com website will only be accessible in Chrome.
The dashboard will provide content creators with live analytic data that should help them improve their future videos. Targeting should also be facilitated by the provided stats. Additional details about how YouTube Gaming is going to work are included in a blog post published by Google today.
As mentioned before, YouTube Gaming will also be available as an app, mostly for Android, but I believe that one for Chrome OS is also in the works.
Google intends to launch YouTube Gaming later this summer, first in the US and UK. I’m sure that if feedback is positive, the search giant will expand this video streaming service to other countries. To be frank, I’m a bit shocked that South Korea isn’t among the first countries to get a taste of YouTube Gaming, considering the e-sports status of gaming in that country.
Until the video streaming service gets launched, users can follow the YouTube Gaming Twitter account, to find out the latest news about Twitch’s latest competitor.
One cannot help but wonder what other niches is Google going to target with its future YouTube sites and apps. After YouTube Kids and YouTube Gaming, I wouldn’t be surprised to see similar video streaming services for car enthusiasts, especially combined with some AR.
Still, it’ll be interesting to see how Twitch.TV will react when confronted with the behemoth that is Google’s YouTube.
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