To compete with services like TikTok, streaming platform Twitch is now rolling out its own “Discovery Feed” on Android and iOS. That’s not all as the an app redesign was also promised for “later this year.”
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Google’s efforts in the cloud gaming space with Stadia started off with shooting for the stars, but quickly turned to the company shooting itself in the foot with missed expectations. The ideas Stadia had, though, remain pretty great, and now Amazon Luna is adopting one of them with a “Play on Luna” button appearing on Twitch.
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Weirdly enough, there’s no way to livestream your Android device’s screen directly from the Twitch app. While there’s a way to stream your front or rear camera, you’ll need to download a third-party app to share your gameplay and commentary to your Twitch fans. Here’s how it all works…
The internet is a crazy place — we all know it. But at least it’s safe to say that, no matter how weird, whatever’s being put on it is made by someone. Well, it has been so far; but what if it wasn’t?
For the past twelve hours or so, in fact, Twitch channel seebotschat has been streaming an ominously curious pair of Google Home devices talking to each other in an endless, calm conversation about everything and anything — and it’s still live right now…
BlueStacks, the app that lets users play Android games on their PC, is today announcing integration with Twitch that it says will make it easier than ever before to live stream Android games.
Twitch has announced the launch of its app for Android TV, bringing the site’s video game streaming experience to your living room. With the new app, you’ll be able to watch both live and recorded video from the site, follow the channels and games that you love, and browse profile pages just as you would on the Android mobile app…
Our Android TV app gives you a more personal viewing experience, including the ability to login and follow content you love, search for your favorite games and broadcasters, and an integrated chat experience. Here’s the full breakdown of the features you can expect:
- Watch live and recorded video of top games, players, and esports events.
- Follow channels and games you want to keep tabs on.
- View profile pages to learn about broadcasters, including the ability to check out their VODs.
- Hi-res video (1080p/60fps) support for Android TV devices.
Additionally, Twitch says that Whispers 2.0 has launched on mobile in the latest versio, bringing an updated chat experience. You can read more about Whispers 2.0 at Twitch’s blog.
Samsung showed off a new Gear VR model at the Oculus Connect event today with a friendly price tag, wider compatibility, and an upcoming ship target. The virtual reality headset continues to be powered by Oculus but it’s considerably more affordable at $99 compared to the prior $199 version. Just in time for the holiday quarter, Samsung says its redesigned Gear VR will ship in November. It also boasts wider compatibility as it will work with all 2015 Samsung phones.
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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 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.
Kamcord, a popular platform that lets game developers add gameplay recording features to their mobile apps, is today taking its first step into live streaming. The move is a notable one as competitors such as live game streaming service Twitch, now owned by Amazon, move into the mobile space and live streaming apps like Periscope and Meerkat begin to gain traction among users.
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Twitch has an interesting new update out that lets anyone on Android view live streams from anywhere on their device (pictured above). The common term for this is “picture-in-picture” – Twitch calls it “Pop Out” – or displaying one thing on the whole screen and another, completely separate feed of content or video inside a smaller viewer simultaneously, still within the main screen. Users of the app have for some time had the ability to continue watching streams while browsing the rest of the app, and this is a continuation of that.
In a blog post this morning, Sony announced that it has partnered with Twitch to let select Xperia smartphones broadcast live gameplay to the popular game broadcasting service. While Twitch has offered Android users the ability to watch live broadcasts for some time, this will be the first time you’ll be able to broadcast your mobile gameplay live to Twitch watchers.
Google has officially unveiled its plans to take on Amazon-owned video game streaming site Twitch, confirming earlier rumors that the company was working on a game streaming service of its own. The site, called YouTube Gaming, was finally announced today (via TechCrunch).
Twitch announced today that its mobile application now supports video on demand content, a feature that has been requested by fans of the service for quite some time. While the app was previously streaming-only, users can now access “highlights and past broadcasts” from all Twitch Partners and what Twitch says is a growing list of broadcasters whose videos are HTTP live streaming (HLS)-enabled.
While the official change log for this version only mentions this one major new feature, looking at reviews for the Android version reveals a few more details. The latest version of Twitch reportedly also sports a new colored status bar, and a new emote panel as well. At least one user reported that “some of the emotes are very small and hard to see” in the new emote panel.
Twitch says that they encountered a security concern that required them to re-list the app on the Play Store, rather than simply providing a new version. So for those that already have the app, you’ll need to head over to the new app listing and download version 4.0. Twitch recognizes that this might be an annoyance to some and says they’re going to do their best to “make it a one-time deal.”
Almost a month ago, it seemed like Google’s reported $1 billion acquisition of the video game streaming website Twitch was a done deal. However, according to The Information, Amazon is in “late-stage” negotiations to purchase the company instead. The financial terms of this rumored deal have not been disclosed, so it’s unknown what would cause talks between Mountain View and Twitch to fall apart.
According to VentureBeat, citing sources familiar with the matter, Google has reached an agreement with Twitch to acquire the live streaming video platform for $1 billion. While the deal appears to have been finalized, the two companies have yet to make a formal announcement regarding the acquisition. Google’s YouTube division is reportedly in charge of the acquisition.
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YouTube has established itself as a mainstream platform for streaming video content online, but its ambitious goal of reaching 1 billion “watch time” hours per day through 2016 is reportedly lagging behind expectations. The Information has learned that YouTube has less than 300 million viewing hours per day, up from the 100 million daily hours of watch time when the goal was set in fall 2012.
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Update: The Wall Street Journal reports the talks are at an early stage and a deal is not yet imminent.
Variety reports that Google has reached a deal to acquire the video game streaming platform Twitch for $1 billion. The move could provide YouTube with the resources to bolster its current live streaming platform, which doesn’t seem to be all that popular among its users. The entire amount will be offered in cash, according to the report.
Twitch has the distinct benefit of being the only live streaming platform built directly into both Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4 consoles. A YouTube buyout would essentially bring all of those next-gen streaming customers to YouTube’s platform, along with the countless users already streaming PC games.
