Google is officially shutting down the independent YouTube Gaming app and closing its dedicated gaming portal on May 30. The announcement was made last year and according to the search engine giant the popular standalone app created confusion among various gaming fans. It turns out; the YouTube Gaming app is absorbed by the main YouTube app designating a special hub focused on gaming for the popular streaming app.
YouTube Gaming Closing Down
YouTube revealed in the recently updated help page that the YouTube Gaming app is finally closing down and encouraged its fans to instead switch to the latest streaming hub. The company disclosed that it has merged the YouTube gaming App and YouTube subscriptions. However, as a result, subscribers are going to lose the list of their saved games.
The company stated that they originally launched YouTube Gaming as a standalone app for gamers where new features were tested based on the feedback gathered from the gaming community. It continued saying that the company would like to continue building a much stronger home for the gaming community that prospers on YouTube. So far, there is no known way that users could transfer their saved games on YouTube Gaming.
As an alternative YouTube recommends that subscribers merge their YouTube Gaming and their regular YouTube Subscriptions. However, losing the list of the saved game is a minimal loss compared to what creators are going to experience. Some YouTube Gaming app users who have been working with the app as early as 2009 feared that the changes could lead gamers to get lost in the scuffle.
Twitch Remains The Streaming King
In 2015, YouTube launched YouTube Gaming in response to streaming services like Twitch. During that time, Twitch was becoming extremely popular in the gaming industry especially among gamers. The YouTube Gaming App assumed a distinct feel and look far from the usual YouTube to mainly cater to the console and PC audiences. The site tried to bolster the app with rising and fresh online celebrities and introduced new features in its entire course.
But, Twitch remained the top game streaming destination of most gamers and gaming enthusiasts. YouTube's attempt to thin Twitch's market and the audience remained an attempt. At this point, twitch is a solid impenetrable force in the game streaming industry. The Amazon-run platform has more than 64,000 users developing more than 2 million hours of contents since January 2019. YouTube Gaming only had around 22,000 users capable of producing 460,000 hours' worth of content.
