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YouTube Gaming signs exclusive streaming deals w/ Twitch stars TimTheTatMan and DrLupo
Twitch is the go-to place for streamers, but YouTube isn’t taking its hat out of the ring. Just this week, YouTube Gaming has poached TimTheTatMan and DrLupo, two huge Twitch stars, in exclusive deals.
Expand Expanding CloseYouTube touts 40M active gaming channels with 100B hours of watch time in 2020
Amid COVID-19, people unsurprisingly turned to watching a lot of video for entertainment. YouTube Gaming in particular touts its “biggest year, ever” in 2020.
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Summer Game Fest partners with YouTube Gaming for exclusive streams, including PS5 coverage
With E3 this year canceled due to COVID-19, a number of other events have popped-up in its place. The Summer Game Fest produced by Geoff Keighley will be partnering with YouTube Gaming for some exclusive content.
PewDiePie signs exclusive streaming deal w/ YouTube Gaming
Live streaming has become a massive trend in the gaming world with platforms such as Twitch and Mixer gaining popularity. To launch new platforms or keep players on a specific option, some of these services make exclusive deals with popular streamers and, in line with that, YouTube Gaming has today announced an exclusive deal with PewDiePie.
Activision Blizzard will host games on Google Cloud, makes YouTube exclusive streaming partner
Google today announced a multi-year strategic relationship with a big game developer that spans various parts of the company. Google Cloud will become Activision Blizzard’s preferred provider for game hosting as YouTube becomes the exclusive live eSports streaming partner.
Google pulls the plug on ‘YouTube Gaming’ app on May 30th
Back in September of 2018, Google announced plans to merge YouTube Gaming with the standard YouTube platform and immediately made its content available in both locations. Now, YouTube is officially pulling the plug on that standalone app in just a few days.
YouTube Gaming is no longer a standalone app, previous site shutting down in 2019
One of YouTube’s first standalone services was YouTube Gaming to capitalize on streaming games to a live audience. With the explosive rise of an Amazon-owned Twitch, Google is now integrating gaming into the main YouTube site and mobile apps.
Google Home Max is now available in Canada for $499 CAD
Google has today announced that the biggest and baddest of the Google Home family, the Home Max, is now available in Canada. You’ll be able to purchase the device in both “chalk” and “charcoal” at both the online Google Store and at Best Buy for $499 CAD.
As expected, Google Home now available in Canada w/ support for Canadian French
Google announced it at the beginning of this month, and now it’s happening. More than 6 months after its United States launch, Google Home is available from Canadian retailers as of today, June 26th. Google announced that the device would be coming to six new countries over the course of the summer, and Canada is the first…
YouTube announces partnership to exclusively live stream Esports Championship Series
Following expansion into television last month, YouTube is now aiming to capture the eSports market after partnering with FACEIT. YouTube will exclusively stream the Esports Championship Series (ECS) competitive gaming league, as well as work with players to build audiences on the video platform.
Android Pay likely headed to Canada soon as references and assets for Interac added in latest app update
As you may well know, Android Pay, Google’s mobile payments service, hasn’t launched in Canada quite yet. But that might be changing soon, Canadians will be glad to hear, as we’ve found that the latest version of Android Pay, which started rolling out today, includes early references and assets for Canada’s largest debit card network, Interac…
Canada ends investigation into anti-competitive search and ad practices by Google
With imminent troubles looming in Europe, Canada just closed its three year investigation into anti-competitive practices involving Google’s search and advertising business (via The Verge). The country’s Competition Bureau ultimately “did not find sufficient evidence” that Google’s practices harmed local rivals.
YouTube Gaming expands to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland, many more ‘coming soon’
YouTube Gaming, the platform the company first unveiled back in June to bring live gameplay broadcasting to YouTube, is today expanding to new territory including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland.
Google searches for ‘How to move to Canada’ spike in response to Super Tuesday results
It goes without saying that the American people aren’t exactly ecstatic about the prospective options for the US presidency, but just how unexcited are they? In response to the Super Tuesday results, which showed both Republican frontrunner Donald J. Trump and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton both winning 7 of 11 states, it looks like many Americans are looking for a way to jump ship. And by jump ship, I mean head north to Canada…
EC says Google’s $185M tax deal with UK government may be illegal, likely to be investigated
The European Commission says that the £130M ($185M) tax deal struck between Google and the UK government may amount to “illegal state aid” by offering the company better terms than those available to smaller businesses.
Google first came under fire for its tax arrangements in the UK in early 2013, when it was accused of funneling profits from UK Adword sales through Ireland, resulting in the company paying just £6M ($8.5M) tax on a turnover of £395M ($565M). In the new deal, it agreed to change its accounting practices to pay more tax in the UK, and to pay a lump sum in back tax …
YouTube purchases 553,000-square-foot office park for $215 million in San Bruno
Silicon Valley Business Journal reports that YouTube has acquired a massive new office park near its current San Bruno headquarters. The Bayhill Office Center comes in at 553,328-square-feet and consists of five buildings. YouTube paid $215 million for it, which comes out to around $388 per square foot. Youtube acquired the space from Hudson Pacific Properties, which purchased it from Blackstone Equity Office just last year.
Google expands its Nexus Protect warranty program to Canada
Google’s AppleCare-like warranty protection program Nexus Protect is now available in Canada. The company announced the expansion in a post on Google+ more than a month after the program launched in the United States alongside the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X.
Nexus Protect, for those unfamiliar, offers an additional year of coverage for mechanical breakdowns within your Nexus phone, as well as two years of protection from accidental damage like water damage and shattered displays. Google touts that, after you file a claim and it is approved, you’ll receive your replacement device as soon as the next business day, with shipping both ways covered. Nexus Protect coverage is attached to the phone itself, so if you switch carriers or give the phone to someone else, the coverage stays with it.
Nexus Protect runs $69 for the Nexus 5X and $89 for the Nexus 6P. It’s also important to note that claims are subject to a $79 deductible and that Nexus Protect only covers 2 incidents of accidental damage every two-years.
If you reside in Canada, you can find out more about Nexus Protect on Google’s webpage for the program here.
Google Photos brings face grouping features to more countries in 1.8 update
Google has updated the Google Photos app this week, and it’s a fairly substantive update — at least in comparison to the almost-weekly bug fixer updates that Google pushes to many of its apps. The new version brings the face grouping features of the well-reviewed cloud storage service to more countries…
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Google Play Games app adds gameplay recording & sharing features
After adding gameplay recording features to mobile apps alongside its new YouTube Gaming platform launch earlier this month, Google is today updating its Google Play Games app for Android with similar features.
The update will allow users of the Play Games app to quickly hop into gameplay recording with the ability to share their own commentary simultaneously using their device’s front facing camera and microphone.
It’s simple. In the Play Games app, select any game you want to play, then tap the record button. You can capture your gameplay in 720p or 480p, and choose to add video of yourself and commentary via your device’s front facing camera and microphone. When you’re done recording, you can quickly edit and upload your video to YouTube.
Google notes that the feature should come in handy for some of the content creators contributing to the roughly 144 billion minutes of gaming videos and live streams viewed on YouTube each month.
The updated Google Play Games app for Android is rolling out to users in the US and UK starting this week with users in other countries getting access in the near future.
YouTube Gaming update brings Mobile Capture on Android, paid sponsorships, more
YouTube has today announced that its Gaming platform is getting a couple of really big updates, just as the service reaches more than 144 billion minutes of gaming videos watched per month. As of today, uers of the newly-updated Android app will be able to stream the games they’re playing on their phones, and certain creators can monetize their viewership with sponsorships…
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Google ‘exploring’ bringing Fiber to San Diego, Irvine, and Louisville
Google today has announced that it will begin “exploring” the expansion of Google Fiber to three new cities. The company announced in a blog post that it will begin working with city officials in Louisville, KY, Irvine, CA, and San Diego, CA to plan the launch of Fiber. The announcement of Fiber coming to San Diego makes it the largest city for the service to date. Previously, San Antonio was the largest city with plans for Fiber.
YouTube Gaming app goes live in Google Play, download it now
Good news, fans of live-streamed gaming: YouTube Gaming is now available for Android from Google Play. YouTube announced that it would be releasing a dedicated app for watching gaming-related live streams and videos hosted on the platform several months back, shortly after Amazon acquired competitor Twitch for nearly $1 billion. Downloading the app from the Play Store is limited to US and UK residents initially.
YouTube Gaming, Google’s Twitch competitor, purportedly launching tomorrow
YouTube Gaming, Google’s attempt at taking on Twitch, is allegedly set to launch tomorrow, August 26, according to TechCrunch’s sources. The site will go live at gaming.youtube.com tomorrow in the US and the UK and will act as a central hub where viewers can find and watch people live streaming their own video gameplay.
Google announced that it would be getting in to gaming live-streams a couple of months back and has been working behind the scenes to get its service ready for a public rollout. Once live it will act as a direct competitor to Twitch, an Amazon service which lets gamers stream their gameplay and offer it up to viewers to watch. It’s a huge market to get in to, and one which YouTube clearly has the infrastructure to manage. Just searching through YouTube for game walkthroughs or live-streams should be enough to convince anyone that the game-streaming market is huge.
The questions is: Will YouTube compete with Amazon’s Twitch effectively? Twitch has more than 1.5 million broadcasters and amasses over 100 million visitors every month and cost Amazon nearly $1 billion in September last year. Interestingly, Google itself was an interested party and was bidding in competition with Amazon to buy Twitch last year — at times Google was even believed to have closed the deal. YouTube Gaming will be available to download on Android when it launches.
AT&T enhances GoPhone plans to support 4GB data in Canada & Mexico
National carriers across the US have been adding features that make it easier to use their service in Mexico and Canada as a growing trend, and today AT&T has announced enhancements to its pre-paid GoPhone plans to include 4GB of high speed data use in Canada and Mexico as well as the United States. The new AT&T GoPhone feature goes into effect on August 21st and is supported on the carrier’s $60 pre-paid plan without making any changes.
In addition to 4GB of data for use across North America, the GoPhone plans include unlimited talk and text in the US, Canada, and Mexico as well. AT&T’s $60 GoPhone plan is reduced to $55/month for customers using the carrier’s Auto Refill automatic payment feature. Important to note, though, is that AT&T’s GoPhone plans specifically mean data speeds up to 3G, not faster 4G LTE speeds, when mentioning high speed data.
For post-paid subscribers, AT&T supports international calling and texting to Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands on its 15GB and 20GB Mobile Share Value plans that it simplified over the weekend. More similarly, T-Mobile enhanced its own plans last month to support 4G LTE data use in addition to text and calls in Canada and Mexico without international roaming fees.
