How Game Streaming Went From Shaky Webcams To the PS4 113
An anonymous reader writes "A slightly different take on Sony's PS4 semi-launch this week. This article traces the history and growing trend of capturing/recording and streaming your gameplay on the internet, from the early days of Let's Play articles with screenshots to today, where pro-gamers make money by playing live on Twitch.tv, and the technology is built into the PlayStation 4: 'Multiplayer video games have been around since the beginning — just look at Pong. Sony's real breakthrough with the PS4 might not be the specs, but its ability to turn every game you play into a multiplayer one.'"
Re:Hey gamers! (Score:5, Informative)
Where have you been hiding? There is a massive audience for watching people gaming. Perhaps a game that you haven't played nor will you ever. Perhaps an old game that you are unlikely to ever touch. Perhaps you're watching a very skilled person in a competitive game. Maybe someone with great commentary and an enjoyable sense of humor. I sometimes enjoy watching people game (or sometimes just have it on in the back ground) the same way I would enjoy watching people participate in any sport that I competed in, myself, at one time.
Youtube is filled with this and the successful ones have hundreds of thousands or even millions of views. The entire twitch.tv network is built on nothing but live streaming gaming.
The only real problem is the incredible copyright headache that is involved. I don't see how anyone can find doing this worthwhile, when confronted with the reality of the imbalanced and unpredictable copyright that could turn your hobby or livelihood (yes, some of these guys make a living at this, apparently) upside down overnight, just because someone decided to target your stream with a DMCA slap.
Another poster, below, already mentioned a lot of people making serious money doing this for a living. Some less than others, but there's a lot of money to be made for some of these guys simply for playing a game and recording it (or live streaming it). Why shouldn't they, if there's an audience for it? Granted, some are better than others. There are some that are built around nothing but personality (for example, that PewDiePie guy who is obnoxious and spastic and only appeals to toddlers) and some that are built around skill. Others around explaining tips or tricks or offering walkthroughs.
Seriously, there are guys streaming their gameplay on youtube that earn six figure salaries from it. It's insane.