With eSports getting bigger and bigger, streaming services that let users share their gameplay live are becoming more and more popular. Twitch.tv has enjoyed massive success in this space, and Raptr’s Plays.tv popped up earlier this year. YouTube said that gaming-related content views are up 75 percent over last year, and half of the top 100 channels are dedicated to gaming. The company has finally launched its own game streaming service, YouTube Gaming, which is meant to take a share of that live game streaming market.
YouTube first announced YouTube Gaming in early June, and over the last month, the company has been trialing the service with a few thousand select game streamers and gaming-related content creators. As of today, YouTube Gaming is available through a web browser for anywhere YouTube is currently available. Apps for both Android and iOS have been released in the U.S. and UK, with other countries getting access at a later date.
YouTube has improved its streaming capabilities to get YouTube Gaming off the ground. The service is capable of delivering 60fps streaming using HTML5 for playback. The company has also integrated a DVR-like quality, allowing fans to pause and rewind streams, as well as fast forward to catch up to the live broadcast.
