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Report: YouTube planning to relaunch live streaming efforts w/ focus on esports

youtube-logoAccording to a report from The Daily Dot, Google is preparing to relaunch the live streaming platform aspect of YouTube with a renewed focus on gaming. YouTube is reportedly looking to take on popular streaming service Twitch and focus on esports and gaming with the refreshed YouTube Live. Google infamously attempted to acquire Twitch last year, but failed as Amazon ended up buying the platform.

One source speaking to The Daily Dot had the following to say:

“Gaming and esports in particular are going to be a big driving force for the new-look YouTube Live. There’ll be huge opportunities for established streamers and organizations soon and I would say that the record numbers of esports viewers are only going to grow when Google start promoting and partnering with these events.”

Google, according to the report, has already assembled a team of 50 engineers to work on the upcoming refresh of YouTube Live. The new live streaming service is apparently set to launch at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in June. Google and YouTube have prior experience when it comes to the live streaming of video games. The company began broadcasting the League of Legends Championship Series in 2013, although without any sort of exclusivity deal.

YouTube’s live streaming efforts began back in 2010 with the streaming of things such as cricket matches and other sporting events. Since then, YouTube has also live streamed various concert festivals. Other than those, however, the company’s live streaming efforts have been nothing to be proud of.

We can expect to learn more about YouTube’s refreshed live streaming efforts during E3, which runs from June 16th to June 18th.

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Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Email: Chance@9to5mac.com

Chance currently writes for both 9to5Google and 9to5Mac, in addition to 9to5Toys.