Why More Gamers Are Getting into Online Streaming

The streaming industry experienced substantial growth over the past couple of years. This growth was only buoyed even further due to the fact that people were forced to quarantine in their homes as a safety response to the global pandemic. Naturally, in order to help pass the time, many individuals sought the comforts of streaming platforms like YouTube or Netflix. It’s the golden age of content consumption and these streaming websites have a lot to do with it. However, there’s also a different kind of streaming platform that has been slowly creeping up in popularity over the years: Twitch streaming.

It’s not rare for people to make use of video conferencing technology while gaming these days. In fact, when casinos were forced to close down as a result of the pandemic, many gamblers hobbled over to online casino platforms for their gambling fix. And a lot of these online casinos like Casinofy.com make use of video conferencing technology for their live dealer games. These are essentially online casino games that allow users to visually interact with dealers and other players through video conferencing. It greatly mimics the sensation of actually being in a casino themselves.

Video streaming and conferencing are becoming an increasingly common technological phenomenon and gamers are capitalizing on this technology. Twitch is an Amazon-owned streaming platform that is dedicated to broadcasting live streams of gamers playing video games. While there are other platforms like this, Twitch owns around 91% of the market share when it comes to video game streaming. This means that less than 9% are on the competing platforms of YouTube and Facebook when it comes to video game streaming. It’s estimated that there are around 2 million viewers on Twitch at any given moment.

Similar to the other streaming giants like Netflix and YouTube, Twitch managed to reach new heights over the course of the pandemic. The spike of Twitch viewers nearly doubled from 2019 to 2020. As of the moment, there are around 7 million Twitch streamers who put up videos of themselves playing video games every single month. Again, that’s near twice as many streamers as there were before 2020.

Of course, one of the main reasons why video game streaming is so popular these days also has a lot to do with the fact that the video game industry itself is experiencing unprecedented growth. Much of this is attributed to developing technologies as far as game development is concerned. But again, as more people were forced to quarantine themselves in their homes during the pandemic, many were forced to pick up new hobbies and pastimes. Video games felt like a natural fit for so many people. Paired with the appeal of being a part of a growing community of like-minded individuals, many gamers were comforted with online streams of people offering unscripted and interactive streaming content for them to enjoy.

There’s a certain intimacy that comes with watching famous streamers play their favorite games. It makes these streamers feel a lot more accessible to their fans and viewers. This kind of intimacy grew largely appealing over the course of a pandemic that had people minimizing their social interactions as much as possible. Again, this is also one of the major reasons why something like live dealer technology in online casinos grew so popular. Many online gamblers sought alternatives to traditional play methods online. Live dealer games gave these gamblers an opportunity to add a more human element to their playing experience while gambling on their platforms. This is a human element that went largely missing all throughout the pandemic.

As far as the future of streaming is concerned, it looks like this is a trend that isn’t going away anytime soon. Many new streamers are popping up and generating fresh content for eager viewers every single day. More than that, viewers and brands are providing streamers with a steady source of income to turn streaming into a full-time career. This makes streaming a very appealing value proposition as a full-time profession as opposed to just some kind of hobby these days. Ultimately, the video game industry is making huge leaps and bounds moving forward. It’s only natural that video game streaming will experience the same kind of growth in the future as well.