Starting tomorrow, internet goers will be able to watch video game streams live on Youtube. Youtube Gaming, which is Google’s answer to Twitch.tv, will be going live at that time; and will become the official channel for all things gaming related.
A year ago, Youtube failed to acquire Twitch.tv; who ultimately ended up being sold to Amazon instead. In that time, Google has been scrambling to build a worthy competitor to the service. It isn’t entirely clear if any Twitch streamers will be making the jump to Youtube Gaming yet, but that question is likely to be answered when the site goes live.
Youtube Gaming offers a few features that are not available on Twitch. Firstly, all streams will be done in HTML5; as opposed to the competition that appears to only offer the option on a case-by-case basis. Youtube Gaming will also offer a “DVR mode” that buffers the last four hours of stream and allows viewers to rewind to sections they may have missed.
In fact, the only thing that Youtube Gaming doesn’t have at the moment is people streaming. Despite the fact that most Twitch streamers already use Youtube to archive their replays.
Youtube Gaming will be rolling out worldwide tomorrow, along with an accompanying app. However, it appears that the app will be exclusive to the US and UK at launch. There is no telling how long it will take for the Youtube Gaming app to reach the rest of the world.
[Source: Ars Technica]
