YouTube Live to reportedly relaunch, focus on game streaming

Scorpus

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There is increasing competition in the online video space, especially when it comes to live streaming video games, and YouTube is feeling the pinch. Despite the company offering live streaming functionality, Twitch is by far the preferred destination for watching streams of people playing games, which is why Amazon forked out $1 billion for the service last year.

Google was also in the hunt to buy Twitch, and although the company couldn't seal the deal, they're not simply conceding defeat in the live streaming market. The company is planning to relaunch YouTube Live, their live-streaming service, with a focus on e-sports and game streaming, according to a report from The Daily Dot.

To ensure that the new YouTube Live is more successful than their previous venture into the streaming space, the company has hired 50 engineers with experience in streaming technology to help build their platform. Google is also reportedly looking in to promoting and partnering with major e-sports events to help get quality content on YouTube Live.

YouTube aren't commenting on their plans to tackle video game live streaming at this stage, though The Daily Dot speculate that all might be revealed come the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in June this year.

With YouTube's popularity in the general online video market, an increased focus on live streaming could spell trouble for competitors like Twitch. While many people enjoy content on Twitch - the service is used by more than 55 million unique visitors per month - lacking video archive infrastructure and integration with other services are weaknesses Google could end up exploiting.

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If it wants to compete with twitch it can but there's really 2 main issues IMO:
1. Live quality (which Google/youtube can handle)
2. Ads. If they have more ads than twitch they dont have a chance in hell.
 
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