Microsoft Teases First-Ever 'Stream-To-Win' Option Built Into Xbox

At this month's E3, Microsoft confirmed "a first in the booming world of game streaming," reports Ars Technica. "It's a subtle thing, which we're dubbing 'stream-to-win,' and it sees Microsoft take its boldest step in battling the behemoth service Twitch." From the report: Horizon 4 will be the first Microsoft Studios game to recognize when players broadcast their live gameplay via Mixer and then give out bonuses within that game for doing so (Mixer is a Twitch-like service that Microsoft acquired in 2016 before re-dubbing it Beam). All Xbox One consoles received an update last year to integrate one-button "stream to Mixer" support, which players can swap to Twitch by going through the system's options.

In the week-plus since learning this about Horizon 4, we have been unable to find a comparable feature in any video game -- meaning, one that recognizes a broadcast (on Mixer, Twitch, or any other service) and then gives out goodies inside the same video game as a reward. Some video games already include official and deep integration with Twitch and Mixer, but these rely largely on audience-driven votes, like in the digital card game Superfight and the battle royale game Darwin Project.

At least one other

[Scutter]

> we have been unable to find a comparable feature in any video game

Bungie's Destiny had an in-game emblem (called Can't Stop The Signal) drop if you Twitch-streamed for 77 hours straight. Granted, it's not "stream to win", but it was an in-game reward for streaming.

Sounds like a good way to devalue your service

[Leuf]

If the service and games combine together to make it easy for the player to get something useful for playing the game then you are going to have the service flooded with poor quality streams from people who don't really want to be streaming but do so for the reward, thus making it harder for the people who are actually trying to make and find good content. If all you want are warm bodies then all you are going to get is warm bodies.

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[rtb61]

It is simply advertising M$ because people think they are a pack of privacy invasive control freak cunts. So they hatch up schemes like this crap, not to generate revenue but simply attempting really fucking lame brand repair, Windows anal probe 10, good luck the brand repair, Microsoft watching you masturbate, perhaps they should consider that, when selling the privacy invasiveness of Windows or the probe, the one that controls which patch you get or if they decide to brick you computer that they own.

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[citizenr]

but the KPIs!

I'll never understand why people watch people play

[ffkom]

To me that is like watching people eat. It just does not cause any of the pleasant feelings that the activity itself induces.

Plus, of course, I am totally fine with nobody watching me play (or eat), probably because I have been born to early to adopt the "selfie"-gene.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Plus, of course, I am totally fine with nobody watching me play (or eat), probably because I have been born to early to adopt the "selfie"-gene.

So is that born too early for taking selfies, as in before cell phones with built in cameras?
Or born too early to watch people play a game, as in before written human history?

I'm willing to bet your parents watched various sports games on the tee vees the same time frame you were born.
Roman colosseum gladiator to the death battles date back what, 2000 years?

You are just an exception to the rule, you didn't come before it.

Not that there's anything wrong with being that kind of exception.
In a way I am too. F

I watch high level play

[rsilvergun]

Stuff like top tier matches in Street Fighter [youtube.com]. I've also used playthroughs to find things I was missing in a game (especially if it's something stupid I'm missing because I'm color blind and can't always see well hidden things).

As for watching people eat, I only watch regular ordinary eating [youtube.com].

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[kit_triforce]

I can understand your point of view, I once shared it. But my view has changed, due to either advancing age or evolving tastes.
I've come to realize that I will never have the time (or money) to play every game I'm interested in. But I enjoy good storytelling through this medium, dazzling graphics, and innovative concepts. I first watched a run through Dante's Inferno, a game I had no interest in investing money in, but a subject matter that I had previously enjoyed (various adaptations of the Divine Comedy,

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[Ranbot]

To me that is like watching people eat. It just does not cause any of the pleasant feelings that the activity itself induces.

I mostly agree... I would never watch someone play just for the sake of watching. But two scenarios I might are: 1) I'm considering buying the game and want to see it actually played; and 2) sometimes watching a really good player can help you can pick up tricks and strategies that would take you much longer to figure out on your own by normal play/trial-and-error.

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[UnknownSoldier]

> Now, I've pretty much given up on gaming because I have no interest in any of the connected gaming or social media bullshit which modern games have become.

There is no need to through the baby out with the bathwater.

List what genre(s) you are interested in, and what platform(s) -- I'm assuming PC -- and I'll give you a list of fun games without all the bullshit.

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[UnknownSoldier]

And this is helping the OP find modern, fun games how again?

Streamer Loot

[WillgasM]

is nothing new. Happens in PUBG all the time.