Valve, a video game company, has released a beta feature that caters solely to users of the Steam gaming platform. The feature allows the users to broadcast and watch a game play in real time.
Steam users already had the ability to see when their friends are on an actual game play on their PCs. With the latest version, users are able to click on status updates and instantly watch a live stream of game play currently being done by friends.
This new feature puts Steam in direct competition with Amazon-owned Twitch, a video game streaming startup that had an acquisition price of $970 million. Prior to its acquisition, the company had steadily increased its momentum in working with PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Moreover, it had successfully concocted a new infrastructure in order to accommodate its growing number of global-wide supporters who have a knack on watching other people score and win while playing video games.
Steam Broadcasting offers an 'always on' feature which automatically allows the user's friends, the public, etc. to tune into his live stream at any time while he is playing. This means that the user doesn't have to manually start a stream. The privacy settings menu also includes the user's quality settings and other recording choices.
"Meet new people, join game groups, form clans, chat in-game and more! With over 100 million potential friends (or enemies), the fun never stops," said Steam on its official site.
Players have two options in viewing streams. Either they view through the Steam client itself or they use a Web browser when viewing game play. Valve officially supports Safari and Chrome browsers for viewing a steam broadcast. Public streams shall be placed on the list of a new community broadcast hub. Currently, the hub already shows a number of participating gamers within minutes when the new feature was announced. In addition to sharing game video content, Steam broadcasters can also decide to share their desktop and microphone commentary.
However, Steam broadcasters are warned on sharing restricted contents such as racism, pornography, threats, and abusive language. Other banned contents include 'piracy discussion,' 'game cheating, hacking, and exploitation,' and posting materials that may be under copyright laws such as magazine scans.
"While Steam's broadcasting solution and the Twitch platform are very different things with vastly different feature sets, it's really validating to see a company like Valve embrace streaming in this way," said Matthew DiPeitro, VP of marketing and communications of Twitch. "Live video is the future of social connectivity for gamers and this is another proof point. We wish them the best of luck."
