Valve breaks into video game streaming with Steam Broadcasting
Look out, Twitch.tv: Valve Corporation has just announced that it will be releasing Steam Broadcasting, a video game streaming service that will be baked into Valve’s incredibly popular Steam client.
Steam already offered to ability to see what games friends are playing and to easily hop in to multiplayer games on the same servers. Now, Steam Broadcasting offers the option to “Watch friends play, with the click of a button.”
The streaming service will offer four different options for users to share content. From Steam Support:
- Only friends I invite can watch my game
- Friends can request to watch my games (default)
- Friends can watch my games
- Anyone can watch my games (public broadcast, can be found in the game hub)
Accessing Steam Broacasting
Steam Broadcasting is available to use now, but it is still undergoing beta testing until the final version is rolled out. The new streaming service is currently available through the opt-in Steam Client Beta version.
To access the feature, first go to Steam>Settings>Account in the Steam client. Then, under Beta Participation, select the Steam Client Beta Update option.
After the client is updated, you can choose your livestreaming privacy, resolution, and bandwidth options under Steam>Settings>Broadcasting.
The livestream competition
The big name in video game livestreaming right now is Twitch.tv. While Steam’s new streaming service might not be able to compete with Twitch on game consoles — Twitch already has apps on the Playstation 4 and Xbox One — it might be a different story on the PC.
Steam has a built in user base, with the number of currently logged in users peaking at just over 7 million people in the last 48 hours alone.
Steam Broadcasting also requires no additional accounts or specialized software for Steam users to use its new streaming service, unlike Twitch, which requires streamers to set up an account and download third party broadcasting software.
Twitch does have one leg up on Valve, however: It works for all video games, not just those available on Steam.
Some of the most popular livestreamed games – such as Riot Games’ League of Legends and Blizzard Entertainment’s Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft – are not sold on Steam.
There are also some games that support Twitch out of the box, such as Sony Online Entertainment’s Planetside 2.
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