X Launches Live Streaming Service Geared Toward Gamers
The platform formerly known as Twitter wants to allow gamers to stream their sessions, just like on Twitch.
Twitter is going through a pretty transformative period, these days. For one thing, the social media platform has changed its name, now going by the much shorter moniker of “X.” But users have noted many more changes since Elon Musk took over the platform last year, and its newest is intended to help it compete with Amazon’s streaming video platform Twitch.
X Premium subscribers ($8 per month or $84 per year) can now share their online gaming sessions and other live videos on the platform. Users have to be subscribed if they want to stream their own sessions, but anyone can watch the livestream of a subscriber once it has started.
Mark Kalman, X’s lead for media engineering took to the platform to share how users could access the new livestream feature:
How to game stream on here (for Premium subscribers) pic.twitter.com/KwpQZRfXF9
— Mark Kalman (@marmars) September 30, 2023
Streaming platforms like Twitch are incredibly popular, especially among Gen Zers. The move is a fairly obvious play to get younger audiences thinking of X as an indispensable social media platform, but if it works it could provide Amazon with its first serious competition for Twitch since the company bought that service in 2014.
One party who should be watching the proceedings intently is Netflix. That company has been steadily building its mobile gaming segment, and intends to one day become a cloud gaming platform that expands far beyond mobile offerings.
If Netflix does become a viable gaming platform, offering users the ability to stream games or watch others while streaming could be a key component. Creating such a platform would cost time and money, but it would allow Netflix to truly become a one-stop gaming destination for its users, and likely drive engagement with its streaming video platform as well.
This is all pure speculation, as no one from Netflix has even hinted that the ability to livestream gaming sessions is in the cards. But the streamer would be wise to consider such a move, even as X rolls out its own game streaming platform to Premium subscribers.
Netflix
Netflix is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 3,000+ movies, 2,000+ TV Shows, and Netflix Originals like Stranger Things, Squid Game, The Crown, Tiger King, and Bridgerton. They are constantly adding new shows and movies. Some of their Academy Award-winning exclusives include Roma, Marriage Story, Mank, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.