Twitch popularity has exploded since it became a feature on new generation consoles last year. Reports indicate that around 20% of content through the streaming website was through the PlayStation 4. And although it wasn’t available during the launch, the Xbox One added Twitch in March 2014 and has proved to be a successful endeavour.
However, one company is not convinced live streams of raw gameplay footage is something consoles need to be able to fit into today’s gaming market. Nintendo of America president, Reggie Fils-Aime, spoke to Polygon recently about their decision to not include Twitch on Wii U when they asked themselves, “[f]rom a consumer standpoint, what’s fun about it?”
Fils-Aime is not striking out against live streaming or even Twitch itself and it’s simply a case of, “[w]e don’t think streaming 30 minutes of gameplay by itself is a lot of fun.”
Despite this, Nintendo are still keen to get on board with content sharing, but are more interested in footage that has more of a focus. For example, Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U features Mario Kart TV which allows players to watch replays of their races, create highlight reels and then upload them to the internet for others to see.
Rather than streaming 100% of the content as raw, unedited footage, Mario Kart TV gives players the option to splice replay content together and show highlights of the race rather than the whole thing. “You can make some choices as to what parts are going to be shared. We think that makes it interesting,” says Fils-Aime.
At the E3 convention this year, Nintendo did showcase some streaming content for Super Smash Bros. with Fils-Aime claiming this to be different to regular Twitch content as it promotes the game and shows players possible new tricks. He says it’s “different than watching Joe Blow’s 30 minute stream, which may or may not have something that’s all that interesting.”
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