YouTube launches a new game portal to replace the ‘failed’ app to support YouTubers

Gaming is one of the most popular categories of videos on YouTube, so finding a certain game or YouTuber (creator) can be quite difficult. YouTube just launched a new gaming portal, reworked to address these issues, with dedicated game pages for those games and dedicated gaming content for YouTubers.

The idea sounds familiar: It’s actually similar to YouTube’s stand-alone app for gaming content. Ryan Wyatt, head of YouTube Gaming, told Polygon that with the company’s best efforts, the Gaming app has mostly hindered the connection between viewers and creators.

“The problem is, if you don’t have the app, or don’t use the game portal to find that content, it’s hard for streamers to show up,” Wyatt said. “A lot of users are just using YouTube and the usual YouTube experience. Sometimes a few people use the game app, or go to the games section, but we realize that the app isn’t getting a lot of attention.”

The new YouTube gaming portal, which will be more clearly integrated on the main website, is built to find new streamers, according to Wyatt. The game portal will resemble the familiar homepage of YouTube users. The old YouTube Gaming app still exists during this transition but will officially close in March 2019.

Recommendations based on your viewing history also appear at the top of the page, along with the games being streamed and the latest video games from the Watch list.” The new gaming portal will include “a separate section for live streaming and trending videos.” The idea lies in mimicking the design of the main YouTube page to help find new YouTubers and keep users watching. New YouTubers will also get a spot on the trending page, something YouTube has done in the past with musicians and animators.

YouTube’s new gaming portal resembles Twitch’s, and this is no coincidence. More than 200 million people watch game and game-related content on YouTube every day, with more than “50 billion hours of gaming content watched in the last 12 months alone.” Games are YouTube’s big business. The challenge Wyatt and the team faced was balancing live recommendations with regular videos – which still make up 80% of game content on YouTube.

“I think Twitch is very successful in finding games,” Wyatt said. “You can go to Twitch, then see the game pages, click on it and see who the biggest streamer is streaming at that moment. We have VOD and Live now – we are strong in both – so YouTube needs to include this process to make it easier for you to watch. For example, click on Fortnite and it will bring up various categories: VOD, Live, YouTuber highlights. It allows you to find content more easily than going to YouTube and searching for ‘Fortnite’.”

The relationship between Twitch and YouTube is also not very smooth. Many streamers have complained about YouTube punishing them for posting videos promoting upcoming Twitch streams. YouTube classifies this behavior as spam, deceptive behavior in the community guidelines: “if the purpose of your video is to entice users away from YouTube and move to another website, it violates our spam policies.”

Some people call this unfair. It is a cultural issue. YouTubers like Tyler “Ninja” Blevin often stream on Twitch – where Subscribers pay – and then upload the edited video to YouTube for people to watch later. Wyatt understands how viewers use Twitch and YouTube. He hopes people will see YouTube not only as a place to post video games, but as a home for game content.

“If you look at the big players other than Ninja, they’re really focused on YouTube,” Wyatt said. “Markiplier and PewDiePie and those who have subscribers in the 15-20 million range or so, they have a large audience on YouTube. What’s special about Ninja is that he streams on Twitch and became one of the fastest growing Creators in history, jumping from a million to 10 million in all VODs and highlights. He separates his business into two segments. [..] Obviously for all streamers you have an opportunity at YouTube, not just as a place for VOD but because the user base involved in real games is so much bigger than on YouTube, you have to think, I want to develop a strategy. What as a gamer on YouTube?

YouTube wants to be the one-stop destination for gaming content, but YouTubers are quite content to work on both platforms. As you should know, Markiplier has his own contract to stream content on Twitch, and PewDiePie is no longer just a YouTuber. PewDiePie also started hosting the show on Twitch following YouTube controversies in February 2017.

Keeping streamers on YouTube means making sure they’re happy. One of the areas Wyatt and the team are working on is re-uploading clips to profit from the success of streamers and YouTubers alike. These clips are often titled “Ninja’s Best Kills,” and although the gaming community understands that the “Fair Use” rule allows for video compilations. The YouTube team is having a hard time processing the re-uploaded original videos.

“This feedback is something we’re listening to, and we’re sure to find a way to fix it – and it’s not just games,” says Wyatt. “This is something we will do for all. The company has invested resources in it and we have developed some tools. I don’t think we’ve done everything that we can, but everyone is definitely putting their full effort into this.”

One of Wyatt’s plans is to focus on community and YouTuber/Streamer. Video detection is one thing; Promoting creators to a community of favorites or creators just starting out is another story. Wyatt said that like the rising artists on the main YouTube page, gaming creators are also discovered through the platform’s algorithms as well as user preferences. YouTube will focus on promoting and diversifying creators.

The ultimate goal is to bring more people to YouTube’s own gaming portal, while reminding everyone that gaming culture is also a major part of YouTube. Creators won’t be left out – just like in YouTube’s failed app.

YouTube Gaming’s new gaming portal is officially on the air.

According to Polygon