We already reported Playstation 4 took an early lead in streaming live gameplay to Twitch by launching first and making streaming ridiculously easy.
Now Xbox has put one last stake through the heart of any hopes they had for matching the PS4 livestreaming experience with this announcement:
They won’t be offering Twitch streaming at all until 2014.
How Xbox One Handed a Win to PS4
With more than 45 million gamers viewing per month, Twitch is huge in the world of gaming. From Let’s Plays to eSports tournaments, it’s already shown how it can impact game exposure. The integration that next gen consoles have put in place for Twitch is testament to it’s level of influence.
Given that, it’s surprising to see Xbox make some key fumbles that let Playstation take the lead.
Fewer Potential Streamers:
At last check, around 60% of Xbox 360 players had Xbox Live Gold subscriptions. As of now, Twitch streaming is confined to XBL Gold members only. So only 60% of Xbox players will presumably have access to direct streaming at all. Every PS4 player has direct streaming access, putting them at a significant advantage.
The only way they could regain even footing is for Xbox to remove the gold requirement, or for the Xbox One to outsell the PS4 but more than 40%. Both seem unlikely.
Lag Time:
The company has put out a statement saying:
“We are working to ensure the initial Twitch on Xbox One broadcasting experience meets the expectations of the Twitch community, so while this feature won’t be available right away, we’ll let you know as soon as it is ready. Our goal is to deliver it during the first part of 2014.”
In the meantime, they are focusing on what they do have that Sony doesn’t – the Xbox One Twitch viewing app that make it easy to watch content on Twitch as well as streaming. While it’s a nice touch and there are some cool Achievement titles attached to it (Hipster, anyone?) we’re not sold on this being enough to outweigh the clear lead that PS4 will have in pure Twitch content production.
And that’s not all
On top of those two critical issues, there’s also the fact that Xbox will have to make sharing as intuitive as scratching an itch to match the bar that PlayStation set. Time and numbers will tell if we’re right, but today it seems clear that PS4 will have a decisive advantage for livestreaming to Twitch for the foreseeable future, and with that, the advantage of many more thousands of players showing off their games and platforms throughout the first few months and first holiday season of the next console generation.
Our condolences to Microsoft on this one
We’re sure there are battles you’ll win, but this isn’t one of them.
Additional Sources: Forbes.
Special thanks to Pinnique for the tip!
