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YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

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Re: YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

#81
post #46
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, Twitch livestreams is unwatchable for me most of the times I have tried to use it. Youtube on the other hand, while available, have worked quite good.

It's funny that my experience is the complete opposite, I wonder if it's just our confirmation bias, or the fact that we are too small a sample. It could also be that us being in different countries (I assume) impacts a lot in our experiences.

Here in France both twitch and youtube are both unusable if you're using some providers like Free.

Re: YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

#82
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget Kamcord, the other player in this space (and another YC company). Twitch isn't everything.

[deleted]

I'd never heard of it so I didn't dig too deep but it seems like a VOD site, not a streaming platform. On the homepage there are zero live channels and nothing mentioned about live broadcasting, only VODs. Had you suggested something like MLG.tv or Azubu, actual Twitch competitors, I don't think you would have been down voted.

Re: YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twitch community is also pretty toxic. Most of the time the biggest streamers put their chats in sub mode (paying supporters) to avoid it.

Recently I noted an anecdotal improvement: more gamers seem to be saying that a winning player "shit on" another player instead of saying they "raped" them.

And why is that better? After you think of an answer, replace occurrences of "rape" with "shit on" and you'll have my counter-argument.

Re: YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

#85

It's interesting that YouTube is acquiring Twitch and not Google. I realize that's sort of a smallish point, but it's interesting how that might be announced officially. Google obviously owns YouTube, but in terms of branding and identity and control, it's interesting.

Maybe want to keep video under "YouTube LLC" in case they ever sell, or taxes?

Re: YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

#86
post #54
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As time goes on the non-gamer generations die off. The gamers grow richer and their willingness to pay increase. The new generations will probably also game.

The question isn't whether people will game - the question is whether eSports will continue to grow as it does now. Being a gamer and being into eSports aren't one and the same. I play a lot of games, I don't watch a lot of eSports (it doesn't interest me). Not that I'm saying the market won't grow - on the contrary, I think it will continue to do so. It's a very small market compared to sports generally ($1 billion…

I don't watch sports and I don't watch gaming streams either. But I think it's an interesting phenomenon so I've asked my friends that do why they do it. It seems to be a mix of excitement about what is going to happen and wanting to learn the tricks of the pros. People generally seem like watching sports/esports they themself participate in. I don't see these trends disappearing or diminishing.

Re: YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

#87
post #52

I wonder how companies like Sony feel about this considering a part of their service is now owned by Google.

I hadn't even considered this, as both the PS4 and Xbox One have stuff in the core system for streaming to twitch (though PS4 also has UStream IIRC). That's an... interesting wrinkle.

Re: YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

#88
post #31

It's worth noting that Twitch partially became popular because it wasn't YouTube , and gamers could stream without content restrictions (e.g. copyright and region) Miraculously, this could end up making YouTube comments even worse .

Well, looks like it's time to start another competitor :)

On a back of the napkin calculation, how much outgoing throughput would one need to be able to stream to ten clients directly on say 720p (~30 frames per second)?

I was wondering if it would be possible to create a set up where people can stream from home without any third party in between. Is that even possible for larger audiences?

Re: YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

#89

It's worth noting that Twitch partially became popular because it wasn't YouTube , and gamers could stream without content restrictions (e.g. copyright and region) Miraculously, this could end up making YouTube comments even worse .

I think it's important to take notice that Twitch's recent problems (the buffering problem, chat problems, the delay in general) are problems with their ability to cater to the big tournaments which causes me to really not be all that surprised if this turns out to be true. The ways they've handled the tournaments have really disillusioned many streamers. I don't know if there's any better way for them to have dealt…

Many of the popular streamers on Twitch are homegrown. Their success can be directly attributed to the Twitch ecosystem. They would likely take a big hit if they switched platforms.
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