The practice of live streaming has become incredibly popular over the years and today, millions of viewers around the world tune in to watch their favorite famous gamers play.
Twitch is the largest video game streaming platform. In its first year, it had 3.2 million users per month.
This popular platform now has 140 million monthly active users. It constitutes a huge springboard for those who want to build a career as a gamer and streamer.
In turn, advances in computer technology, high-speed Internet and the booming world of esports have contributed to the increase in these numbers.
The popularity enjoyed by live streaming of video games shows no signs of waning. By the way, how did this phenomenon start?
The birth of the video game streamer
Broadcasting a game in progress isn’t exactly a new thing, especially when video game walkthroughs and strategy guides have been in the media for years.
Many streaming stars have become famous by broadcasting strategy guide videos.
Felix Chelberg, who launched the PewDiePie YouTube channel in 2010, is one of the pioneers.
His exaggerated reactions and humorous playthroughs quickly gained attention and before long, other channels broadcasting their description videos appeared.
The practice of live streaming became popular in the mid-2010s on sites like Twitch where multitudes of users came to watch their favorite gamers play games live.
How gamers are turning live streaming into a profession?
The games Fortnite, Minecraft, Valorant, League of Legends, Apex Legends, COD: Warzone, Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, Dota 2, and CS: GO are those that currently attract the most viewers on Twitch and YouTube.
Not only are these games very popular, but they are also very competitive.
It sometimes takes several years to master them. Therefore, many professional gamers like Ninja, Shroud and Myth use Twitch to broadcast their high-level gameplay and mastery while sharing funny comments and invaluable gaming knowledge.
This gives the audience valuable information that they can exploit when they play. Top streamers can earn income from sponsorships, subscriptions, and donations.
Of course, not all streamers are so lucky and the majority have to fight for long hours to attract audiences.
There are ways to make money and if you have the talent and presence to captivate live audiences, you could very well become the next streaming star.
How to become a video game live streamer?
If you’re not afraid of odd hours and long streaming sessions, we can give you some tips that might be helpful when launching your streaming career.
- Learn how to stream – This seems obvious, but you need to become familiar with your streaming software before you can offer content.
- After all, the audience isn’t coming to see you play with sound and picture quality settings.
- Invest in Decent Streaming Equipment – There’s no point in building an audience if you don’t have the hardware required for streaming.
- Tools are just as important as content. The recommended specifications for Twitch Studio are: Windows 10 64-bit OS, NVIDIA GTX 10 series GPU or newer, 8 GB of RAM, and an eight-thread Intel or AMD processor.
- That said, streaming and running the necessary applications at a high level of quality requires at least 32 GB of gaming memory.
- Be consistent – This point is essential for any video game live streamer, especially beginners because you need to do daily streams to increase the audience.
- Interact with the audience – When the audience starts following you, it’s important to think about dialogue. So don’t forget to check your cat from time to time.
- Finding the Niche – It’s not always easy to stand out in a sea of video game streaming channels, but it’s essential if you want to succeed. If your content is entertaining and fun, more viewers will follow you.
Conclusion
The world of live streaming has seen immense growth over the past few years and has given rise to a community of gamers who can watch other people play, interact with other viewers, or live stream their own gameplay.
If you’re passionate about video games, creating an account on a streaming platform can be a great way to have fun, chat with other gamers, or even build a career.
