Look Out, Twitch: YouTube Set To Launch YouTube Gaming Service Today

This time last year, it seemed certain that YouTube would be the one to acquire the ultra-popular game streaming service Twitch.tv, but alas, that privilege went to Amazon for a cool $1 billion. That wasn’t going to stop Google from pursuing its game streaming prospects, though, something that became clear in June when it announced that YouTube Gaming was coming.

That “coming” equals today, although as of the time of writing, the website and related apps are not available.

Like Twitch.tv, YouTube Gaming aims to be a one stop shop for those who can’t get enough gaming-related videos. While live streaming is going to be a big focus here, there will be categories for walkthroughs, Let’s Plays, and more. Content creators are not going to have to opt into the service; if videos they upload are gaming-related, then they should appear on YouTube Gaming automatically.

As the initial screenshots (above) show, certain games will have dedicated channels, or pages, that will allow people to read about the game, see which videos are live, check out other games from the same publisher, and so forth.

When the service launches, mobile apps will be made available for at least Android and iOS, and each will have a customized interface to better fit its target screen.

Could YouTube Gaming overtake Twitch.tv as the go-to game streaming site? Given its unparalleled userbase, it could happen. The fact that it bundles in other focuses as well, such as walkthroughs, should help things as well.

The official URL for YouTube Gaming is https://gaming.youtube.com/, but as mentioned before, it’s not currently live as of the time of writing. I’d suspect it’ll become available just after lunch time, PT time.