[a]listdailys was on-hand at TwitchCon to catch all the action and explore how livestreaming has evolved.
Keynote: Twitch Prime Announced
- TwitchCon 2016 keynote host djWHEAT: “Twitch is on the forefront of both embracing gaming culture and developing new subcultures.”
- Twitch CEO, Emmitt Shear breaks down the numbers. At any given time, there are approximately 622,000 viewers on Twitch.
- The number of concurrent viewers peaked at over 2 million on April 3, 2016 during an eSports weekend event.
- Over 2 million streamers were broadcasting this past year, including over 17,000 partner streamers.
- Over 10 billion minutes of content was broadcasted on Twitch since last year’s TwitchCon.
- The most watched game of 2016 is Overwatch, followed by World of Warcraft: Legion, Destiny: Rise of Iron, Tom Clancy’s The Division and H1Z1: King of the Kill.
- Earlier this year, Twitch acquired Curse Network. Shear announced today that the Curse Voice app is getting “Twitchified.” Curse app users can add a purple Twitch theme, complete with all the beloved emotes, when they link their Curse and Twitch accounts.
- Streamers are getting a host of new features, including customizable loyalty badges to award viewers. The feature will become available in three weeks.
- Beginning today, streamers will be able to upload videos to their channels for anyone to watch, and they’ll be able to download past streams for watching and/or editing.
- Starting today, the Twitch mobile app will support livestream clips. To date, almost 16 million clips have been created by over 3 million viewers. Later this month, users will be able to trim clips to their liking.
- Twitch Prime announced: Twitch is integrating Amazon Prime benefits into a new service called Twitch Prime.
- Shear describes Twitch Prime as: “A new premium version of Twitch which comes free with an Amazon Prime membership.” It includes ad-free viewing, exclusive emotes and chat badge.
- Twitch Prime benefits include: 1. Monthly game loot, which includes free games, in-game skins, characters and more. 2. One free subscription to any Twitch channel each month. 3. Discounts on new release box games on Amazon during the pre-order period and first two weeks following launch.
- Blizzard Entertainment’s Ben Thompson, Hearthstone Art Director, took to the stage to reveal one more Twitch Prime benefit. Users that sign up for Twitch Prime between today and November 6 will get a special Hearthstone hero.
- Additionally, the game Streamline will be free for users who sign up for Twitch Prime within 30 days.
- Twitch Prime starts today, and users can link their Twitch IDs with their Amazon Prime accounts for access.
Here are the top highlights from [a]listdaily‘s exclusive interviews from the show:
Daybreak Games Discuss H1Z1 As An ESport
- Jens Anderson, executive creative director at Daybreak Games, is joined by H1Z1 streamers to talk about eSports.
- The H1Z1 Invitational tournament, which started at TwitchCon last year, is back.
- Invitational pits 60 players against each other for a $260,000 prize pool.
- It takes incredible dedication to train for the tournament.
- Jens Anderson: “I don’t think you can manufacture an eSport.”
- The prize pool is generated by fans that purchase a special H1Z1 game pack.
- The H1Z1 Invitational takes place on Sunday, October 2.
Darude Finds Unexpected Focus From Livestreaming Music
- Finnish musician and DJ, Darude discusses how Twitch has affected his following and creative methods.
- Once he got over his nervousness about people watching, Darude feels that livestreaming helps him focus.
- His song, Sandstorm is a common, pre-game “pump-up” track for players, which helped him integrate into the community.
- People seem surprised that a streamer is not a gamer, but they seem very forgiving, allowing Darude to experiment with music.
- Twitch followers—particularly gamers—notice things about his music that he didn’t expect.
Gunnar Optiks Celebrates 10 Years Of Preventing Eye Strain
- Scott Sorenson, president of Gunnar is joined by streamer, Life With Laughs and musician, Darude.
- Gunnar Optiks was founded a decade ago after one of the co-founders, a stock broker discovered that he had eye strain.
- Gunnar glasses filter out harmful blue light, which is a major problem in a world of digital screens. Although Gunnar glasses are beneficial for anyone who works on a computer, gamers are especially prone to eye strain.
- As the company celebrates its 10th birthday, Sorenson says that they will continue to focus on education to save eyes, “two at a time.”
Qazi Shares His Game Development Journey With The Masses
- Artist and programmer, Qazi is a one-man game development team.
- His games include Twitch integration, allowing viewers to play the games together.
- Skyhook was developed with the help of Qazi’s followers and launched live on his stream.
- Qazi enjoys getting feedback from viewers on assets, art and other fun activities like drawing pugs.
TwitchCon: It’s All About The Creation
- [a]listdaily was joined by Amy Brady, head of Twitch global events.
- TwitchCon, in its second year has already surpassed attendance by about 10,000 people.
- Brady says that they care about the indie games as much as the “big brands” at the show.
- Creation is at the core of what Twitch stands for, be it gaming or otherwise, and they enjoy the diversity.