Americans love video games. In fact, the overall value of the U.S. video game market in 2017 was worth approximately $18.4 billion.
Thanks to some breakthrough technological advances, video game popularity has significantly increased in recent years. Now, with Fortnite seemingly being the topic of conversation for middle schoolers and professional athletes alike, a specific gaming technology is revolutionizing the entire industry: video game streaming.
According to The New York Times, Twitch, a popular video game streaming service valued at $1.1 billion, has one Fortnite streamer who earns $500,000 a month. That player is 27-year-old Tyler Blevins, more commonly known throughout the gaming community as Ninja.
Ninja’s half a million dollars a month can be attributed to his 250,000 paid subscribers. Many of those subscribers sit glued to their Twitch screens for Ninja sessions that last around 12 hours. Since Twitch has seemingly cornered the video game streaming market, there are some other major players who are hoping to break into this lucrative industry and start streaming services of their own.
Wired reports that the almighty Google is developing its own video game streaming platform. The search and advertising giant is working on a multi-pronged games initiative that would involve both hardware and a streaming platform, nicknamed “Yeti.”
Additionally, though Xbox has already been a popular staple in modern gaming, its parent company, Microsoft, is working on a video game streaming service. According to The Independent, Microsoft has hinted at plans to develop its own game streaming platform, which would enable users to play any video game on any device.
Believe it or not, but even Facebook is planning its own version of video game streaming, as reported by Business Insider. Fb.gg users will be able to find live and pre-recorded game content from featured streamers and those they follow.
The audience for digital gaming content is young, engaged, and growing, which is why these three major organizations have a good chance at succeeding within the video game streaming community. On average, gamers between the ages of 18 and 25 years old across the globe spend 3.5 hours each week watching other people play video games online. Juniper Research even predicts that by 2022, 858 million consumers globally will be watching video game streams.