http://www.engadget.com/2015/06/12/youtube-gaming/
http://thenextweb.com/google/2015/06/12/youtube-gaming/
http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2015/06/a-youtube-built-for-gamers.html
It was inevitable that the biggest video sharing site would enter the game streaming arena. Google was of course at one time being the rumored buyer of Twitch. That turned off many Twitch users because Google has a pretty lengthy history of turning acquired properties into marginalized initiatives (only a few of those acquisitions have turned into big but important ones like Google Maps, Google Earth, Android, to name the biggest ones) due to a lack of focus.
And there have been cases where Google has tried to re-invent the wheel, and never really quite hit the mark where those projects ended in its graveyard. That included many social networking initiatives including Orkut and Buzz. Google+ was yet another stab at a social networking platform meant to compete with the likes of Facebook (the company later in more of a PR move, stated that it more of an initiative to bring all their disparate properties and branding under one name).
Recently, Google has stated Google+ will be undergoing a shifting focus. Two of the services core functions has been moved off into standalone products; Google Hangouts and Google Photos. And even more recently, they have removed the Google+ link to user profiles from most of their properties (moving it to another but less visible link). Basically, the public has by their actions indicated they are more than satisfied with Facebook and Twitter (using those properties for what they are good at doing). Google doesn’t quite get social networking and this shifting focus signifies that while Google+ isn’t quite dead, that they have decided to move away (again) from trying to capture and always hang on to these users from those other services.
The point is that there are just some things that Google is not good at doing compared to other companies. YouTube’s forte is video though and game streaming is almost a no brainer. Given the huge amount of video-on-demand (VOD) gaming content on the site, becoming a game streaming platform just makes sense. Twitch by comparison amounts to a very specific niche and its purchase by Amazon hasn’t really yielded much noticeable results in terms of user facing improvements. Basic things like chat remains problematic. And the company (before the Amazon acquisition), made a major change to archival of prior broadcasts. Twitch does provide a means to export video to YouTube but its another step that needs to be user initiated. On the backend, its also a bandwidth consuming process for Twitch.
Furthermore, search on Twitch is horribly broken due to that change. It brings up a lot of results but most of those results are invalid because they link to cached data that is no longer valid since the actual archived video no longer exists. It’s a terrible user experience and one they haven’t even bothered to fix. Contrast this to Google where search is their expertise. Search on YouTube is likewise mostly a non-issue.
Following games are also an issue if it isn’t one of the major ones. Since I’ve recently been talking about a Japanese RPG called Natsuiro High, let me use that as an example. This link is it’s Twitch game directory (this is what is set automatically by the PS4). Try hitting the follow button and then reloading the URL again. The follow doesn’t stick. It’s the same for many lesser known or very niche titles.
Twitch has only recently began rolling out archived VOD changes that will eventually allow all broadcasters to have past broadcasts that can be played back on mobile devices via the Twitch app. Right now, they are rolling out those changes with partner streamers being the first to get this implemented. But it’s a slow change and in light of this announcement by YouTube, Twitch will need to up their game big time.
The other more glaring one is streamer promotion; it is basically difficult for newer and smaller streamers to get noticed on Twitch due to the way streamers are promoted on the site. There are are some mechanisms like hosting (that allows any broadcaster to host another; thus a large streamer can host a smaller one and give them a potential larger audience to get noticed). Search (a weak spot for Twitch) for live streams also doesn’t help when both the web site and app have misses in their results.
YouTube is already the place that players use for sharing their gaming videos. Their entire site is already mobile friendly including video playback. That aspect will be tightly integrated and simplified with the streaming platform. Twitch in the mean time has a setup that #1, needs to be specifically enabled (archive past broadcasts) and those broadcasts are only temporarily stored (for non paying users) for several weeks before they are automatically removed unless the player manually highlights that video. And when it comes to highlighting, it’s a very rudimentary process. This leads me to point #2; YouTube by comparison has had video editing tools for basic editing.
I personally do not stream myself but I am an occasional viewer and find that Twitch has way too many technical problems on the user facing end. When searching their support site, some of those issues have been outstanding for years. Similar to YouTube’s contentID system (for automated copyright flagging), Twitch also mutes portions of archived broadcasts that has suspected/matching audio of copyrighted content). The problem is with false-positives and Twitch’s slow response to streamer inquiries. To date, Twitch doesn’t do this to live streams (when technically, they are supposed to since if they found copyright violations in an archived stream, that meant it was also being streamed live).
My point is this competition is going to be a good thing for everyone because Twitch will need to fix these problems a lot quicker than the glacial pace they’ve been progressing at. The Amazon acquisition (nearly an year ago) should’ve increased that progress since financial resources wouldn’t have been as big an issue. Twitch has the early advantage including the community related aspects. The thing is that for newer and smaller broadcasters, YouTube Gaming will offer a very strong and powerful alternative where they can make a name for themselves and have every tool necessary right at their disposal. For the biggest Twitch streamers, some crossover will initially exist (broadcasting time split on the platforms to see which ones their community prefers unless they have a non-compete clause and Twitch turns the other cheek). What may be a turning factor (and maybe not) for some is the partner incentives/monetization system that will be offered by YouTube.
Twitch’s partner program has had the luxury of being very selective to where even streamers who meet the newer relaxed requirements, are literally given the runaround (essentially amounting to a “don’t call us, we’ll call you if we really need to”). They’ve also been inconsistent regarding enforcing their ToS and contractual agreements; offering leeway to some of their biggest streamers (some of them likely have tailored personal contracts – and as usual, this information is forbidden from being disclosed so lot of these stories usually come from those who have had their partnership revoked). These are the folks YouTube Gaming has a chance to cater to though.
And what about Hitbox.tv? I doubt they will be affected drastically by this as they have their own smaller niche and communities (some who were banned or made the decision to move off from Twitch). Sure, some of those users may move to YouTube Gaming but Hitbox will remain their backup. Ustream.tv is more than just gaming so they too aren’t going to be affected by this. Twitch being the current leader, has the most to lose (and they have lot of issues to fix before this big competitor launches).
Publicly, Twitch isn’t blinking and rightfully so. But internally, they should be concerned about just some of the few things I (and many others) have noted. Again, some of these are longstanding and were reported on their community site (effectively being ignored). Most everyone uses YouTube. Not everyone uses or even knows what Twitch is. Myself, I am not even a huge Google follower due to some of their own practices. What I despise worse though are those who hold a near monopoly position in an area, and don’t bother addressing and fixing reported issues (since it sends out the signal that “we’re the only real game in town so it’s my way or the highway”). That is a major reason why I am for this competition.
