Category Archives: Opinion

YouTube is now better at live streaming than Twitch

The Dota 2 International Championships took place last week, determining the winner of the grand Aegis of the Immortal trophy and distributing $18.4 million in prize money among the 16 participating teams. Beyond the mythical battles and skirmishes inside the game, the tournament was also an important event in the ongoing contest between YouTube and Twitch. The International 5 (TI5) was streamed live on both services as well as inside the Dota 2 game client itself — though this year, unlike any of the previous ones, I watched almost all of it on YouTube. What’s changed? Continue reading YouTube is now better at live streaming than Twitch

10 of the PC Gamer favorite Twitch streamers

Livestreaming has quickly become a huge part of PC gaming, and Twitch has been at the center of it all. But with hundreds of games being played and thousands of streamers playing them—enough to warrant its own convention, TwitchCon—it can be hard to know what to watch. Finding the most popular streamers is easy, but there’s a lot more out there.

We asked the PC Gamer staff and writers for their personal favorite Twitch streamers for any and all games. These are streamers who are fun to watch, educational, engaging, or all of the above. Even if you’ve never played the game they’re streaming, you can enjoy the show they’re putting on.

Don’t see your favorite streamer on the list? Tell us who they are in the comments below. And if you want to learn how to stream yourself, be sure to check out our beginner’s guide to livestreaming.

Continue reading 10 of the PC Gamer favorite Twitch streamers

Does Streaming Multiple Games Hurt My Channels Growth?

Have you ever wondered if streaming multiple games is hurting your channels growth?

Picture this, you have hundreds of people watching you play League of Legends for a few hours! So, you decide to take a quick break and play a match of Hearthstone and BOOM, everyone goes away! (Even though you have a solid deck and an above average rank)

What Gives?

Continue reading Does Streaming Multiple Games Hurt My Channels Growth?

Pro Gaming – What It Takes To Be A Top Performer!

What does it take to be a pro gamer at the highest level?

Does it take a big bowl of Cheetos and a dark basement? This is the image most people conjure up when they hear that someone plays video games for a living. Even streaming and youtube can have a negative context to the average friend who doesn’t understand the grind! They don’t understand that streaming your gameplay for hours to small crowds when you get started is tough and isn’t about just playing games and wasting time.

To become the best, you must have an extreme amount of dedication to your craft. Here is a quick Q/A via Quora about what it took to become one of the top WOW players in the world!

Pro Gamer Streamer Job

So the next time your parents roll their eyes about your dream to become a pro gamer or even just make a little money on the side, remind them it isn’t easy.

What It Takes

But, for you… don’t take it easy. Don’t get complacent with your routine. There are many people out there that want to do this, are you ready to give up some weekends? Are you ready to find a mentor and stay up late when that new game drops and your fans want to see it in action?

These are often the best parts of streaming, but don’t forget about all the little things that turn an average stream into something extraordinary!

Originally posted on Reelgamer

Steam Broadcasting works great, but Twitch isn’t threatened yet

Steam Broadcasting works great but Twitch isn't threatened yet

The first thing I watched with Steam’s new livestreaming service was Dragon Ball Z. Then I shot over to another instance of Media Player Classic to watch some other anime I couldn’t identify. When the stream cut out, the chat filled with one viewer’s cries of “FUCK THE MODS WE RUN THIS SHIT.”

Just like Steam’s tagging functionality, which initially had undesirable results, it’s going to take some time for Valve to get Steam Broadcasting right, which may include protecting itself from legal repercussions (and I can’t imagine the complexity involved in doing so). For that reason and more, cries of “Twitch is dead” are massively premature. I’m not even sure Valve is gunning for the current leader in livestreaming, and after playing with the beta release today, I don’t think it’s any competition yet. I do like it, but it offers something different—an easy way to share with friends.

And Valve does have advantages. When I want to Stream on Twitch, I set up OBS, test it, then tell everyone on Twitter that it’s happening and hope for some viewers. On Steam, which already houses most of the games I play, I just set it up once and play any game in my library. The streams are a good quality (mostly), and I haven’t had performance problems while playing. My biggest fear is that I’ll forget I’ve set my streams public because it works so smoothly.

If I do decide to let anyone watch, any game I’m playing on Steam, I will be posted as a broadcast in the game’s community hub. A couple minutes after I started streaming Metro: Last Light—not exactly a brand new game—three viewers showed up, and all I was doing, was sitting at the menu. Steam offers a massive audience, so I expect popular games and streams to draw a lot of attention. It could be huge.

Steam Broadcasting works great but Twitch isn't threatened yet 2

But Twitch has a huge audience, too. There are over 69,000 people watching League of Legends as I write, with one stream alone drawing over 24,000 of them. Over on Steam, the biggest Dota 2 stream at the time of writing has 179 viewers. Most have none. So, this isn’t a magic bullet, and it’s going to take time for Steam Broadcasting to grow. Additionally, Steam doesn’t offer what Twitch does, and may never. Here are a few of the reasons Twitch streamers aren’t going to abandon their posts:

  • Streaming on Steam means streaming with the Steam client. Twitch streamers can use Open Broadcaster Software, Xsplit, and others to customize their video.
  • Viewing Steam streams is only currently supported in Safari, Chrome, and the Steam client. Twitch already has popular mobile apps.
  • Steam currently cannot archive broadcasts. Twitch no longer saves archived streams forever, but it can export them to YouTube.
  • You currently need to be logged into Steam to view broadcasts, and they can’t be embedded on other websites.
  • Popular Twitch streamers can make money from their broadcasts, and that’s not the case on Steam, so they have no incentive to jump ship. (That does mean that Steam’s broadcasts are nicely ad-free, but of course they are—Steam is already a store where products are promoted.)

Some of this may change in later releases, and it’s possible that big Dota 2 and CS: GO tourneys will feel cozier on Steam (where Valve could potentially sell access), but we’ll just have to see where that goes. For the moment, I don’t see Steam as a competitor to Twitch, which isn’t to say Twitch is the best possible service; it’s just different. Steam Broadcasting is a service for Steam’s community, while Twitch is a business opportunity and e-sports hub. If I were running a tournament, I’d use Twitch, but if I want to share a game with friends, I’ll probably use Steam starting now.

I could notice Evan playing CS: GO, and decide I want to absorb some of his skill. He could notice me playing some new Early Access game, and find out what I think of it. It’s easy, too. With the latest beta client installed (you can set that up in Steam’s preferences), all you have to do, is right click a friend’s name and hit “Watch game.” Depending on their settings, it’ll either send you to the stream, or let them choose whether or not to share (it can also be set to invite-only, so that you don’t have to opt out of requests). I’m going to prefer privacy most of the time, but I’d happily run around Far Cry 4 with an audience of friends. It would feel like a hassle to start a Twitch stream just to show Evan how much C4 I stuck to an elephant (and I wouldn’t have bothered), but if he’s already in Steam all he has to do, is ask.

That’s the real value of Steam Broadcasting for me. If Valve gets aggressive next year, we could see certain tournaments and big streamers switch over, but right now, I don’t think Valve is taking on Twitch. (In fact, I’ve seen many users suggest adding Twitch support.) And anyway, I hear that League of Legends, Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, and Minecraft are pretty big despite their non-inclusion in Steam. It’s apparently possible to use Steam to broadcast non-Steam games, but why would you?

Originally posted on PC Gamer