You don’t need any tools or dongles or special hardware of any kind to capture your mobile gaming anymore. You just need YouTube.
Google unleashed a new update for the mobile version of its YouTube Gaming today that enables anyone with a compatible smartphone to record or broadcast their gameplay to the YouTube website. This is a powerful new feature that could make YouTube a top destination for all recorded and livestreamed mobile gaming videos. With Android and iOS gaming already enormous in established markets like Japan, the United States, and China — and growing in emerging regions like India and Brazil — it’s clear that mobile is the next important step in the battle over gaming video content, which already has tens of millions of viewers.
Since the app update went live this morning, I’ve spent some time with it. My first impressions are that YouTube Gaming now makes livestreaming easier than ever before.
For example, I did this Retry broadcast from bed:
And then I did this Star Wars: Uprising video:
It was so simple, and here’s what I learned.
It works with almost no friction
A few years ago, it was nearly impossible for the average person to livestream content from their phones or tablets. Even if you had a capture card, many devices — especially Android handsets — didn’t offer any video-out ports.
But with YouTube Gaming, you no longer have to worry about any of that. Instead, you boot up the app, select the option to go live, and get going.
The app gives you the option to either record your gameplay or stream it. If you choose the latter, YouTube will also save an archive of the broadcast to your account.
The point is, livestreaming is now so easy that anyone with a phone can do it.
Simple tools
Once you’re live, Google has kept things simple.
A transparent info bar runs across the top of your screen, and it tells you the quality of your broadcast and how many people are watching. Your front-facing camera, which your phone or tablet almost certainly has, gives you a video feed so that people can watch you as you play your game. That appears as a circle on the bottom left, but you can quickly move that by dragging it around your screen.
The camera feed is also surrounded by your livestreaming options. With a tap, you can turn off your camera, mute your microphone, and remove the chat.
Again, this all just makes sense and no one is going to have trouble using this.
Final thoughts
Sites like YouTube, Twitch and Kamcord already have millions of people making videos and livestreaming gameplay, but YouTube Gaming’s latest update could see that number grow at a rapid rate.
Livestreaming is almost too easy now. A few taps, and you’re online with a camera and a microphone. Of course, this better serves people who prefer Candy Crush Saga over Halo, but you know what they say: There are no small games, only small streamers. And as Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (a collectible card game) and Vainglory (a mulitplayer online strategy game) grow in popularity among more serious gaming crowds, mobilee