youtube

Twitch has dominated the new market of video game streaming and now YouTube wants a cut of the action.

As they announced at the beginning of the summer, YouTube has planned to launch YouTube Gaming, a separate site dedicated to streaming, watching and chatting about video games. On Aug. 26, they began a slow release of the new platform.

Mashable says the introduction is fairly painless:

Getting started is a simple process of navigating your browser over to gaming.youtube.com and following the steps in a setup process (that includes phone verification). You'll need to set up encoding software, fill out the necessary info for your stream and tick off any optional features. There's a checklist right there on the setup page, but Google also put together a more involved guide to getting set up.

YouTube Gaming supports streaming from PlayStation 4, Wii U and Xbox One consoles, provided you've got a capture device sending video from the console to your computer. Google specifically calls out Elgato's HD60 as a YouTube Live Verified device, but there's a good chance that other game capture solutions work as well. If you've got one, try it out before you run out and buy something new.

Apparently, mobile apps for Android and iOS are also around the corner so you can watch your gaming of the go.

The launch comes only a year after Google prepared a heaping ton of money to purchase Twitch, but then Amazon swooped in with $970 million and bought the streaming service.

There's no telling yet whether the search giant will have any luck in a space already dominated by Twitch and executives at the leading streamer seem to think not.

Matthew DiPietro, Twitch's SVP of Marketing released a statement Aug. 25, basically bragging about how their numbers are so much bigger:

For our current stats, we have 1.5 million broadcasters (11K Partnered channels), 100 million viewers per month who watch 106 minutes per person per day on average, and 38 million installs of our mobile app with 4.7 billion minutes watched across 10.3 million unique devices.

Playstation 4's new 3.00 firmware has already gone out in beta form to some users in Japan and the details of what's included have spilled onto the rest of the Internet.

According to Polygon:

In addition to the usual user interface enhancements, v3.00 brings with it the addition of YouTube broadcasting — just in time for YouTube's big new gaming push due to launch "this summer" — and support for 10-second clips for Twitter.

Also included in the v3.00 beta: an "Events" menu to find and watch events related to PlayStation (we imagine press conferences here); a "Community" feature where you can make a new community or join an existing one; and new ways to more easily find and join games your friends are currently playing.

It's been since March that the most recent 2.5 update brought suspend/resume, accessibility controls and higher frame rate for share play. And while there's no set date yet for when 3.00 will arrive, it shouldn't be too long of a wait.

The full, extensive list, is available over at Gematsu.

Whether you love him, hate him or have never heard of him, PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg) leads the YouTube charts. His 38 million subscribers is a full 15 million more than the second place YouTuber and he boasts more than 9 billion (with a 'B') total views.

That's going to make the guy some money. Even if the vast majority of his videos revolve around playing video games and yelling in that way he does.

BBC reported July 7 that PewDiePie made $7 million in 2014. The story went around like things do and some vitriol was thrown his way like it does.

To his great credit, PewDiePie uploaded a video responding to some of the anger he received about the large paycheck. It's surprisingly frank, very respectful and ultimately charming.

From the beginning:

"I just feel like it's not important to anyone and I just want to make entertaining videos"

To the end:

"Conclusion, it seems like the whole world cares more about how much money I make than I do myself."

This new Internet economy is still not something understood or even accepted by a great many people. Especially when new public figures like PewDiePie inspire flame wars and derision. It's refreshing to have a blunt response about money come from one of the Internet's biggest stars.

YouTube is set to launch its own video game dedicated website and app later this summer with streaming capabilities to rival Twitch.  The service will highlight the plethora of gaming content on YouTube, while weeding out unrelated content.  YouTube Gaming will feature pages for individual games, letting you follow, say, all the Dark Souls content without subscribing to every Let's Player who streams the game.  It will also feature pages for game companies and content creators, so you can follow whoever you want at will.    

Gamasutra conducted a survey of 141 gaming YouTubers, some of whom had more than a million subscribers. Turns out, 26% of those who have more than 5,000 subscribers have received money either from publishers (21%) or developers (5%) to make videos about their games. Less than 2% of those with less than 5,000 subscribers have done the same.


Are you okay with YouTubers receiving money from publishers (or developers) in exchange for coverage on their channels? Should YouTubers be required to disclose this? Let us know in the comments below!

The deal, in an all-cash offer, is expected to be announced imminently, sources said. If completed the acquisition would be the most significant in the history of YouTube, which Google acquired in 2006 for $1.65 billion.

YouTube is preparing for U.S. regulators to challenge the Twitch deal, according to sources. YouTube is far and away the No. 1 platform for Internet video, serving more than 6 billion hours of video per month to 1 billion users worldwide, and the company expects the Justice Department to take a hard look at whether buying Twitch raises anticompetitive issues in the online-video market.

Smooth move, YouTube.

The internet is jumping down Microsoft's throat about trying to buy positive reviews and consideration from YouTubers, but boogie298 wants you to know this is nothing new. The video is six whole minutes long, but worth a watch if you're interested in video game reviews on YouTube.

This YouTube copyright thing is getting out of control.

We'll let Boogie tell you about the details, but the TL;DR version is this: thousands of copyright claim notices have gone out to video game based YouTubers on Let's Plays, reviews, and commentary videos. Basically, any video that uses game footage is in danger. Many game companies don't allow footage to be used in monetized videos, and some don't allow any footage at all, and YouTube is enforcing those claims en masse. A few companies/games have come out in support of YouTubers:

Good on you, Diablo. What do you think about Copyrightalypse?