Twitch released an official announcement via the Associated Press today confirming that it will stream games on the Xbox One. This will launch along side the Titanfall release. An update next month will add the ability to live stream video games. Along with this, players can join in on games with broadcasters, initiate game broadcasts with voice commands, archive game clips and watch Twitch streams broadcast from any device, including the PS4. Originally, Xbox One users could only view system specific streams, but this has been changed to include PS4 broadcasts. This opens up everyone to be viewed from a broader audience.
These thins will all be done via the Twitch Upload app. Included with the app will be Twitch’s chat features and the ability for users to broadcast their living rooms using Xbox One’s Kinect 2.0 camera. This has raised some flags over on Sony’s side with some questionable and uncensored streams, but Microsoft is willing to dip in with no questions. The update will come March 11th, which coincides with Titanfall dropping. The delays in Microsoft obtaining this was Sony’s crafting of its own Twitch integration, rather than having the app available. This also means that going forward, PlayStation 4 viewers can only view the same console streams, and this is different for Xbox One users.
“This will open up the social aspect of Xbox One in a new way,” Mehdi said. “The community of Twitch is huge, and this allows us to type into that, and frankly do something that’s never been done before on consoles. You’ll be able to broadcast to any device and consume anyone’s broadcast from any device. It’s a console experience unique to the Xbox One.”
The future of gaming includes social networking, as Microsoft and Sony have proved so far. Per the Associated Press, Twitch stated last month that 20 percent of its broadcasts dating from December 23rd to January 3rd were from PlayStation 4 users alone. It also added that 1.7 million streams have been broadcast since the PS4’s initial launch on November 15th. Ironically, with all those streams, that does not include UStream, Sony’s other streaming option. As of now, UStream is sticking with PlayStation 4.
“It’s complete integration,” said Emmett Shear, co-founder and CEO of Twitch. “It’s exciting because we’ve never had the ability to broadcast from a console like this with such a deep level of integration. The concept of being able to join a broadcasters’ party is really cool, and it’s another step in the direction of interacting more closely with broadcasters.”
Source – Associated Press