YouTube Gaming prepares to take on Twitch

YouTube Gaming

YouTube is launching a new website dedicated to livestreamed and on-demand gaming content called—brace yourselves—YouTube Gaming. The site will have dedicated pages for more than 25,000 games, "from Asteroids to Zelda," as well as channels featuring content created by both game publishers and the YouTube community.

As livestreams will be "front and center" on the new site, YouTube plans to launch "an improved live experience that makes it simpler to broadcast your gameplay to YouTube," Product Manager Alan Joyce wrote in a blog post. "On top of existing features like high frame rate streaming at 60fps, DVR, and automatically converting your stream into a YouTube video, we’re redesigning our system so that you no longer need to schedule a live event ahead of time. We’re also creating [a] single link you can share for all your streams."

YouTube Gaming users will be able to add games on the site to their virtual collection, and channel subscriptions will provide notifications whenever a new livestream begins. "And when you want something specific, you can search with confidence, knowing that typing 'call' will show you 'Call of Duty' and not 'Call Me Maybe'," Joyce added.

YouTube Gaming was initially hinted at back in March, when an anonymous source said the company was preparing to relaunch YouTube Live following its failure to acquire Twitch, which eventually ended up in the hands of Amazon, in 2014. It's expected to go live sometime this summer, and until it does you can sign up to be notified of future happenings at Gaming.YouTube.com. I would also recommend you take a moment to enjoy this tweet from Twitch, welcoming YouTube Gaming to the scene. Burn.

Burn

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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