Twitch – The Streaming Service For Gamers

Ever heard of personalities like Shroud, Dr Disrespect, Ninja or Syndicate? Games such as ‘League of Legends’, ‘Counter Strike: Global Offensive’ or ‘Overwatch’?

All of these have one thing in common: The streaming service known as Twitch.

Owned by Amazon, the platform was created for gamers.

Think of YouTube, but where like-minded gaming enthusiasts have access to their favourite streamers and content and have the ability to become content generators themselves.

A streamer broadcasts to a platform that enables them to reach a broad audience. But Twitch, not to be mistaken for the character from ‘League of Legends’, allows streamers to promote gaming titles and the platform itself for various incentives.

The service was started in June 2011 as a spin-off of Justin.tv, which no longer exists. With Justin.tv, the creators wanted the public to share and upload content to develop a community. The gaming category grew the fastest on that platform, and so Twitch was born.

Twitch provides account holders access to categories based on the games being watched and broadcast onto the platform.

These days, there are many games that have the built-in function for gamers to record directly while playing, linking to their account. Twitch provides almost the same functions as YouTube, but the popularity of the latter makes it that much more accessible.

Streamers on Twitch receive subscription benefits if they are a partner or affiliate. This programme allows individuals to earn an income while streaming, provided that they do so several times a week. This is supported by the loyal viewership or audience that is generated by the streamer’s channel.

Subscriptions to view are also available, and this depends on the channel you want to follow, as some may require payment. It helps to read before subscribing.

But as all of this happens online and in real-time, do local gamers have the necessary support for streaming? The answer is a resounding no.

Windhoek-based gamer Lourens Diedericks – also known by his gamer tag, Speks – said: “Nowhere in Namibia is a 10mb per second line available to your residential address. The infrastructure is there, but you as a streamer would not be able to access it.”

Jeremy Muller, engineering and technical manager at Paratus Botswana, confirmed that it would not be suitable to provide this function to the mass retail consumer.

“Based on the amount of people who would be able to make use of such infrastructure, it would be in best business practice not to market such a product to a small consumer segment,” he said.

If Namibia is too small for such an investment to be made, what does this mean for the small gaming sector?

Twitch is not the only platform out there for streaming as YouTube has become the standard many people use to see who you are. So, streaming without a supplementing YouTube channel is not advised.

Ange Mucyo, a Windhoek gamer who tried Twitch out, says: “YouTube is a must when you’re starting out, and then Twitch can be supplementary.”

If you are keen to become a streamer or content generator, get your camera and audio gear ready and set your account up. Remember, if you have an interest that you would like to share, you can develop a following or community around that alone.

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