The video game streaming industry has unexpectedly grown to a level where it is being considered one of the fastest-growing modes of online streaming. From its beginning days back in 2011, a lot has changed in video game live streaming so far, and a lot is about to change in the future.
With big companies investing huge amounts of money and with futuristic technological advancements, it can be confirmed that the video game streaming industry still has a long way to go, and it is just at its initial stages at the moment.
Here’s a brief look at how livestream video games have evolved so far and what the potential future of this industry is:
The Beginning of the Game
Just like any video game character, the video game live stream industry also started its initial stages as a small, powerless version of itself. Beginning its journey in 2010 as just one of the many streaming categories on a livestream platform called Justin.tv, video streaming gained popularity very rapidly, and just by June 2011, Justin.tv decided to create a spin-off separate platform specially dedicated to video game content. This platform was named as TwitchTV.
Very soon Twitch became a popular name among video game players and fans; by 2014 Twitch surpassed HBO’s online services in terms of traffic. Soon, many big companies began to realize the scope of success and the promising future of livestream video games.
The Arrival of Many Platforms
In 2014, Amazon acquired Twitch for US$ 970 million; such immense was the popularity of Twitch. It was rumoured that even YouTube was planning to acquire. However, by August 2015 YouTube started its gaming platform, and by 2016 Microsoft’s Mixer was also launched, and video game streamers struck gold. With many new platforms and millions of viewers, the video game streamers could now easily earn a decent income through video game streaming.
With more and more players streaming numerous video games, the entire industry began to boom by 2018.
The Business Boom
Live stream video games were soon a business opportunity for numerous game developers and other companies related to gaming and streaming, especially because of the volume of data involved. Game developers can analyse this data to understand user preferences and favourite choices of characters, weapons, etc. Game developers would sponsor popular streamers to broadcast their game for the sake of valuable data and advertising.
The game got even bigger when big sports associations showed interest in video game streaming. For example, in 2017 the NBA had announced that it would stream NBA G League games on the Twitch platform. Similarly, Impact wrestling, the National Women’s Hockey league, National Women’s Soccer League, Nintendo, and several other gaming and sports associations made deals in video game live streaming. Popular streamers were also paid a large amount of money to switch between platforms to attract viewers.
In 2020, Bilibil a China-based video streaming platform paid $113 million to League of Legends for 3 years of broadcasting rights in China for the game, making it supposedly the biggest deal so far within the video game streaming industry.
With such progress from 2011 to 2020, video game streaming is today the most lucrative industry in the field of online streaming. Lots of fans, lots of popular content creators, and lots of sponsors, this is a splendid combination of success on which video game live streaming is relying heavily at the moment.
However, some discussions tend to question the future of the industry; what innovations, what upgrades, what more is possible with the content of video games.
The Future
There are some questions, and some experts even believe that video game streaming doesn’t have much more to offer, and the progress will be halted in the future. However, observing the progress and technological advancements, it seems that the future of video game streaming is even brighter in the future. Some of the most dramatic changes would:
- Introduction of Cloud Gaming: Though already in the market, cloud gaming is still at a very initial stage of development. But many experts believe that cloud gaming is going to be the absolute future of the gaming industry. The capability of the cloud to store and transmit a large amount of data at high speed will allow many games with high-end graphics to be run through the cloud, enabling a player to play the game even on simple equipment easily. Already by 2020, Electronic Arts, Amazon, and Google have all announced their cloud gaming services.
- Virtual Reality: Virtual reality is also a very exciting concept to be added to live stream video games. Though virtual reality games are already available, the technology can still be considered at a developing stage. Over the next decade, significant changes can occur in the field of virtual reality. Having multiplayer virtual reality games with realistic experience and high-end graphics, all on broadcast livestream would surely take the industry to a completely different level.
These are just some of the potential changes that could occur in the field of livestream video games. With rapid technological development, along with the new norms due to the pandemic, more and more traffic is being generated on online video content, out of which, video game streaming takes up a good percentage of viewership; all this, points towards a promisingly bright future in video game live stream broadcasting.
Conclusion
As expressed above, there are very few industries that have gained such rapid and long-lasting popularity among the public. With steady progress of more than a decade yet being in the very initial stages of its development, video game live streaming is one of the most promising fields of entertainment.
With a promising future ahead, more and more individuals are considering a profession in the field of livestream videogames, not only as a streamer but the industry is also hiring hundreds of IT professionals every year. Therefore, video game live streaming cannot be underestimated in terms of growth; it is still at the initial stages and is destined to grow leaps and bounds in the future. Download GameSee App on the mobiles to get an experience of live streaming of video games.
