Why not learn a little about the history of streaming? By Michael Oliver.
Remember going to your mate’s house and being in awe at the new game they just got their hands on? Or asking your older sibling to help you beat a certain level and sitting speechless as you watch a professional taking the controller? The fun of games isn’t always in the actual playing of the game itself as many people think. I can guarantee that most gamers have spent hours enjoying the novelty of watching someone else play in their adolescence. Nowadays, this is obvious through the rising popularity of video game related content. What started as game tutorials and “Lets Plays” has transitioned into real-time streaming with the creation of Justin.tv and Twitch. It’s safe to say that video game streaming has single-handedly revolutionised the modern games industry; but just how did it do it?
YouTube and Twitch
Before there was video game streaming, there were video game channels and stand-alone videos. YouTube was the original source of many of the early trends in video game content that streaming services then capitalised on. It all began with simple tutorials and walkthroughs of different video games: how to beat this boss, how to unlock that achievement, how to download more RAM. These are questions that would often be answered by one of your buddies when they came into school, blessed with given knowledge from the elder one (a.k.a their sibling). The novelty of watching and sharing your own ideas around games became reciprocated through the content on YouTube. Instead of being stuck on a level for a week and having to visit your mate’s house for pointers, you could just type it into a search bar and have the key within seconds.
It wasn’t long before the tutorial/walkthrough videos lost control of their popularity on YouTube. Everyone was trying to be the next Youtube sensation, which in turn paved the way for the development of the ‘video game personality’. These were people that brought their own persona to the table alongside the gameplay which drew further parallels between watching videos and watching a friend play. The “Let’s Play” genre was borne from playthroughs, and added often hilarious human reactions and opinions to what was silent gameplay. Suddenly, everyone was reminded of when they were at their mates’ sleepover playing Manhunt, reacting appropriately to every single execution. YouTubers like PewDiePie, Markiplier, and Lewis & Simon became sensations through combining their personalities perfectly with the gameplay content of their videos and are still influential behemoths in the Youtube world today. In fact, 5 out of 10 of Forbes’ highest earning YouTubers for 2018 were gamers — Markiplier and PewDiePie featuring among them. As time went on, more and more YouTubers moved in the direction of user interaction, which is where Twitch took the wheel completely.
Justin.tv: The Birth of a Behemoth
Twitch began from a small website known as Justin.tv. Justin Kan & Kyle Vogt founded the website on the premise of Justin broadcasting his life through a go-pro connected to a laptop backpack set up, made by Kyle. The website was one of the first examples of live streaming on the internet outside of professional events, and Justin was able to interact with his audience through a chat system built into the interface. The website blew up and was picked up by the media, instigating the expansion of Justin.tv to be more than just Justin. It housed more and more streams over time, from the similar lifecasting Justin was doing, to gaming, cooking, sports — literally anything that your heart desired. The technology used by Justin and Kyle was soon available to whoever wished to stream themselves. The days of capture cards and expensive hardware to stream were over, as the intuitive systems developed by the pair enabled almost anyone and their dog to stream if they wanted to (and dogs are certainly popular!).
The gaming section of the website became immensely popular. The ease of streaming meant that players could do live “Let’s Plays” with the ability to interact with their audience, which soon became the standard game streamer. Alongside that, esports capitalised greatly on the easy platform that Justin.tv offered. The ability to broadcast on a service with millions of users that could access the stream with little trouble was pivotal in the growth of esports, which I’ll get into a little later. In 2011, Justin.tv separated its “Gaming” category into an entirely new website: Twitch. The popularity of the website grew to the point of greatly surpassing Justin.tv, and the company ended up putting all its effort into the gaming side of streaming.
Twitch became the monopoly of streaming services through its intuitive platform and lag-free video. Competitor Hitbox.tv launched in 2013 with an attempt to destabilise Twitch through “a $4 million investment from SeedInvest, Wargaming, and North Base Media.” In response, Twitch went on to announce that “it had raised $20 million in funding from Thrive Capital and Grand Theft Auto Publisher Take-Two Interactive,” and partnered up with game event E3 to be their dedicated broadcaster. The following year, Amazon bought Twitch for $970 million, demonstrating the importance of the platform in the video game industry.
Impact of Twitch on the Industry
Alongside game personalities, “Let’s Plays,” and direct community interaction, Twitch’s sudden rise to fame can also be accredited to esports. If you couldn’t physically go to a tournament before Twitch existed, you were destined to have to watch a reupload or sit through a terrible quality stream on a dedicated esports website for that specific game or team. It was a particularly arduous process to get your eyes on the professional scene without travelling, so when Twitch appeared it was instantly used to broadcast events. Rod Breslau, senior esports editor for Gamespot in 2013, stated that, “when it comes to the broadcast of big events, [Twitch] have a stranglehold on the market… at this point folks just refer to them as the ESPN of esports.”
The ease of use that Twitch brought to users meant that almost anyone could stream, and this included online tournament organisers. The cost of setting up expensive streaming equipment and LAN qualifying rounds became nullified by the ability to stream on Twitch. A commentator could stream any qualifying event on their setup at almost no cost, ultimately saving resources for the LAN event and future tournaments.
Ironically, Twitch’s rise to popularity paralleled that of the MOBA, and it became a part of the identity of DotA 2and League of Legends. DotA 2’s International and League’s World Championship are broadcast each year; League has a total of 142.5 million viewer hours and 39.2 million esport hours, DotA 2 has 38.2 and 10.4 million. Wedged between these MOBA titles is CS:GO, with 48.2 million viewer hours, 15.4 of them being esport.
Outside of esports, video game streaming has had a huge impact on the industry. Game titles such as Fortnite and PUBG rose to fame through popular streamers picking them up and streamers playing them in their prime. Twitch also offers a platform for subcultures of gaming like speed running and other smaller communities to have a place to interact with one another. Professional players also often create their own streams on their down time between scrims and tournaments, creating an opportunity to interact with your favourite player. It’s safe to say that Twitch has very much moulded the modern landscape of video games.
Streaming in perspective
It is clear that Twitch is a pioneer in modern gaming: it revolutionized the ability to chat and interact with streamers by building upon the foundations laid by the OG gaming channels on YouTube. The ease of use and access meant that almost anyone could be a viewer or a streamer, and its ties to the esports sector popularized it as thehome for esports broadcasting. This year Twitch announced a dedicated esport section to their UI to make it even easier for consumers to find tournaments worth watching — as if it wasn’t easy enough! All in all, modern gaming would be in a very different place if Twitch hadn’t happened, or maybe it would have happened either way as a natural evolution of the industry. Who knows, but at least in our timeline we have that fly purple theme, so a huge shout out to Justin and Kyle: who knows where us gamers would be without you.
