With Google announcing the launch of its gaming-focused streaming service, YouTube Gaming, and actively promoting it at E3 2015 and Tokyo Game Show 2015, Twitch may have felt some pressure. Consequently, at the TwitchCon event held earlier at Moscone West in San Francisco, a number of updates were announced, including a plan to fully transition to HTML2016 by 5, the addition of private messaging, and the ability for users to upload their own video content, allowing Twitch to play pre-recorded or uploaded playlists like YouTube.
At the TwitchCon event held earlier in San Francisco, Matthew DiPietro, Twitch's Senior Vice President of Marketing, stated that the business opportunities driven by gaming videos are significant. Twitch is also continuously listening to user needs and plans to add a private messaging feature, "Whispers 2.0," to the Twitch service. This will allow users to send messages to specific accounts, rather than just chat rooms. This feature is expected to be released in an update this October.
Furthermore, to avoid Flash's continued burden on system performance and impact on stable performance, Twitch plans to fully transition to HTML2016 in 5. This will enhance cross-platform service availability. With the increasing number of people viewing live video content on mobile devices, HTML5-based platforms will be more accessible to a wider audience. Furthermore, the adoption of HTML5 will improve system operation smoothness and reduce the performance loss caused by Flash.
Added video upload and video playlist to compete with YouTube Gaming
To further compete with YouTube Gaming, Twitch has announced that it will allow users to upload their own video files, which will be stored directly on Twitch's servers. Twitch also plans to add a playlist feature, allowing users to play video content continuously, similar to how YouTube allows users to continuously rotate various video content through custom playlists.
However, because uploading video files requires some preparation, Twitch anticipates launching the feature in early 2016 at the earliest. Details such as file upload size restrictions and maximum storage capacity were not specifically announced during TwitchCon. The video playlist feature is also expected to be available along with the upload feature. Twitch also stated that it plans to open beta applications in the coming weeks, allowing some users to test the feature first and build up a sufficient amount of video content for playback before the actual launch.
Expanding PlayStation platform partnerships
As for the Twitch service that was recently integrated into the PlayStation 4, the official also announced that the Twitch service will be extended to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita platforms.
So far, Twitch has provided corresponding versions for iOS, Android, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nvidia Shield, Chromecast, and Amazon Fire TV devices. In addition, the announcement that it will fully move to HTML2016 in 5 will make the Twitch service available on more connected devices with web browsers.
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