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Video game publisher Activision Blizzard with Google that will see the search giant’s cloud platform power all of Activision Blizzard’s game hosting and other technical needs. YouTube will become the exclusive streaming partner for all of the game publisher’s big e-sports titles, including the upcoming season of the Over watch League and the Call of Duty League.
The deal is a huge win for YouTube, which has struggled to compete with game streaming leader Twitch, despite YouTube being the largest video site in the world and the second most-visited website on the planet behind only its parent company’s search engine. Twitch was the exclusive streaming partner for Activision Blizzard’s first two seasons of the Over watch League, and Twitch has long been the go-to destination for live gaming entertainment.
Since its launch in 2015, YouTube Gaming failed to flourish as its own distinct section of the broader YouTube ecosystem, and earlier, the company even shuttered the standalone YouTube Gaming app because its existence caused “confusion” among viewers. In its place is a game-focused hub on YouTube for finding popular live streams and videos.
YouTube has shared streams like Jack “CouRage” Dunlop and Lachlan Power in recent months, and the platform continues to be the prime destination for prerecorded footage. Even though many streamers still remain on Twitch or, like Fortnite star Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, have moved over to Microsoft’s competing Mixer, YouTube is still where all of these creators post highlight videos, vlogs, and other content that lives on after it’s streamed live.
Twitch competing against Google-owned YouTube, and Facebook is also trying to build out its own live-streaming platform to capitalize on the popularity of gaming content.
“With more than 200 million gamers a day watching more than 50 billion hours of gaming content per year, YouTube provides gamers and their passionate fans with the most popular video gaming platform in the world,” Ryan Wyatt, YouTube’s head of gaming, said in a statement.