YouTube is going to introduce YouTube Gaming this summer, a live streaming video game platform similar to Amazon-owned Twitch.
On Friday, YouTube revealed YouTube Gaming, an app and website debuting this summer that's positioning itself as "the biggest community of gamers," as well as the destination for videos and live streams.
Major industry players are looking to capitalize on the growing gaming audience. Many consider YouTube Gaming to be Google's alternative for Twitch, an Amazon-owned live streaming video platform that Google tried to purchase last summer.
This week, YouTube is able to gauge the gaming community's interest in the platform at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the world's largest video game trade show.
. @YouTubeGaming Welcome Player 2. Add me on Google+. #kappa
— Twitch (@Twitch) June 12, 2015
Rich Guest, president of Tribal Worldwide's North America operations, thinks that it's a smart move for YouTube to re-enter the gaming space after its deal with Twitch fell through.
"YouTube is very smartly aggregating its content in this area into one property with an improved user experience, and this should help YouTube to better monetize those users and video views," Guest says. "I read that there are 183 million people in the U.S. who play video games at least an hour per day. And many people want to learn how to play their favorite games better. Online video sites like YouTube are obviously the place to go for this type of tutorial."
The YouTube Gaming site will have individual pages for more than 25,000 games. Engineers at Google have tweaked the site's search engine to cater to video game players. For example, if a gamer types in the word "call," the search bar will suggest the game "Call of Duty," instead of the music video "Call Me Maybe."
Perhaps (Read more...) of the fierce competition, one single media company has yet to dominate the gaming space.
Google's competitors are making big pushes in video games, as well. Last Thursday, Facebook-owned Oculus Rift announced a deal with Microsoft, where the virtual reality device would come with an Xbox One controller and Xbox adapter. Oculus Rift will also allow users to play a catalog of games for the Xbox One console.
"I see Amazon, YouTube, and others competing to become the dominant media brand in the gaming space. As big as the gaming audience is today, there really isn't an equivalent of ESPN in the space," Guest notes.
To make the platform stand out, the YouTube Gaming team is redesigning the system where users will be able to convert live streams into a YouTube video and share their streams via one single link. In the coming weeks, YouTube will also launch an improved live experience to make it simpler for gamers to broadcast their gameplay on the platform.
Homepage image via YouTube.
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