In this case, YouTube focuses on its video game community, which has been a pillar of the platform almost since its inception. YouTube is billing Game On, a live stream that will take place Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern Time, as a celebration of “notable games, top video creators, and popular trends that shape gaming culture.”
The two-hour stream features more than 60 high-profile creators, including Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach, Matthew “MatPat” Patrick, Bella Poarch, Jack “CouRage” Dunlop and Ali “Myth” Kabbani in segments such as “Real Professionals Play a Video” . Game Simulator,” “Spooky Survival: Which Senior Will Survive in ‘Poppy Playtime’?” and “‘Mortal Kombat’ Tournament: Beat Bella.” These segments contain interactive elements such as polls to let fans vote to decide the results, choose your own adventure style or bet on who will win.
“I think the sheer reach of what YouTube is in the eyes of all the different creators and all the different viewers is just too big,” said MJ Johnson, YouTube Gaming’s senior director of global marketing, when asked about Rewind’s retirement. ” in 2021. “It’s just really, really hard to be concise everything to everyone. So ‘Game On’ is a celebration of this set of creators and this set of viewers.”
Game On also comes at a time when large-scale events are gaining ground in the world of live streaming, both on YouTube and Twitch. The so-called “events meta” has countless big names running their own game shows, fitness camps, and… true-to-life, viewer-controlled re-creations of “The Sims”, often to record viewing figures. Twitch, meanwhile, has sponsored events and collaborations for years through programs such as the competitive Rivals series. Now YouTube wants a slice of the live event pie.
The demand for live, often in-person events from viewers makes perfect sense to Matthew “MatPat” Patrick, a Game On host and longtime YouTuber who specializes in content that analyzes video game knowledge and theories. Some of it, he says, is a matter of momentum; video games are now mainstream, bringing in additional advertising and production dollars that can match the aspirations of major creators for live shows. There is also the elephant in the room: the pandemic.
“We’re coming out of two years where everyone was locked up and the only way they could communicate with each other was in virtual formats,” Patrick told The Washington Post. “You had people graduating in ‘Minecraft’ and museum tours in ‘Animal Crossing.’ Gaming became a bigger center of people’s lives because it was the place where they could escape or connect with friends and family. Now we’ve moved past that, and people are eager to see each other and join in. We’re looking for exciting, fun parties – and gaming is a part of our lives now.”
YouTube is hosting Game On at the end of a 12-month period in which it has voted out several top Twitch streamers, but it’s not just targeting Twitch-friendly megaliths like “Minecraft” and “Grand Theft Auto.” While those games are the centerpiece of Game On segments, so are largely YouTube-grown hits like “Poppy Playtime,” a 2021 indie horror game set in an abandoned toy factory.
As it should be, Patrick has some theories as to why “Poppy” in particular has taken YouTube by storm. Some of it comes down to playtime; indie horror games are often only a few hours long – shorter than many Twitch streams, which instead focus on infinitely replayable multiplayer games. And of course, viewers love to see how YouTubers react to jumpscares. But the latest statement ends up in Patrick’s wheelhouse: People want to understand what scares them, in order to gain some measure of power over it. That’s where lore deep dives on YouTube come into the picture.
“People want to be presented with the answers, and a lot of these games are cleverly done where they give you enough clues that you can take them apart, but not all the pieces fit neatly, or there could be some dangling wires,” Patrick said. That’s how the conversation keeps going… Then you go to Reddit, you go to the YouTube comments, you go to these places and see how your experience compares to your favorite creator.”
YouTube’s inclusion of games like Poppy in Game On shows what drives the particular gaming community — though it remains to be seen whether the challenges surrounding streaming a game like “Poppy” can be overcome.
Despite the celebratory nature of this event, however, Johnson said YouTube also recognizes that there is still room for improvement. This is especially true when it comes to cheering up newer, less established creators and games – a common criticism of YouTube for trying to build its own livestreaming community, largely by attracting established streamers who have an audience anyway. will have where they end. Johnson pointed to YouTube’s promotion of individual streamers’ events as a step in the right direction, but the platform still lags behind services like Twitch when it comes to livestream-specific tools and community building features. And of course, the algorithm will always remain fickle.
“The most popular session [at our last gaming creator summit] everyone was talking to one of our tech leaders about the algorithm,” Johnson said. “It really feels like there’s a desire of, ‘How can I play the system? How can I use the algorithm to my advantage?’”
According to Johnson, it’s best for creators these days to use all the tools YouTube offers: VODs, live streams, and shorts — and scrutinize the resulting analytics. But when it comes to gaming, YouTube also hopes to do its part more consistently.
“We just need to get better at celebrating more and more why gaming is so great on YouTube. We have those big, one-off moments that are very visible,” said Johnson. “But there are new makers every day that we want to highlight and present.”
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