Can a new streaming platform come along and properly compete with Twitch?

[Kaeden]

I think right now we have what, YouTube and Facebook's gaming platforms that will compete with Twitch, correct? Obviously Mixer was (I think) what most people figured would be the big competitor to Twitch but ultimately failed. Do you think this was due to bad decisions on Microsoft's part or does Twitch simply have too strong a hold on where people want to see their streams? What did Mixer really lack that could have been fixed in your opinion?

I can't speak to YT or FB with their platforms as I've never honestly followed either of them. So do you all think it's likely that another one might come in and compete with Twitch or will they remain the key 'go-to' place for the foreseeable future?

And I don't have an issue with Twitch at all, I enjoy the site and how it works. Just wondering really if Microsoft screwed up with Mixer or was their fall simply inevitable?

 

[Zookfoodle]

Assuming you have infinite money and have the patience to wait 10+ years, sure it's possible for a viable Twitch competitor to emerge.
But the reason Mixer failed is because Microsoft just threw money at it and expected it to work without really thinking about the long-termm

 

[Deleted member 13707]

Twitch is on a different level now. It's an associated label that is synonymous with its purpose. Like a first name basis for gaming streamers. No other platform can really say that.

If there is a potential threat to that identity, it will take years, not months, to manifest.

 

[CloseTalker]

Sure, nothing is a monolith. But like Epic Game Store with Steam, it will likely require some dirty tactics that viewers won't like.

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

I'm not sure. Social media has plenty of competition and declines in popularity, and streaming services have taken the initial monopoly away from Netflix, so I would assume video content platforms would go the same way, but Youtube still doesn't have any real competition for what it does and Twitch's only real competition is another feature of Youtube.

It's been well over a decade since any competition to Youtube actually threatened to be anything worthwhile. Maybe when that happens, we'll see something come for Twitch's crown next. It's hard to get people to want to move, but it can happen, I guess running a video service takes a lot of investment/money, though, so not everyone can do it.

 

[808s & Villainy]

Compete how? You can't just come into a space with all the same ideas just because you have a large incumbent. What would it do to differentiate itself? To either produce the next big streamers or draw existing ones to it? And more importantly, who (what company) would want to speak the time and resources to build it up?

I'm not sure. Social media has plenty of competition and declines in popularity, and streaming services have taken the initial monopoly away from Netflix

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I'm not really sure that's applicable. That's only really worked because Netflix largely just licensed content and the content owners have decided to start services with their own content. It'd be more applicable if the some of top Twitch streamers decided to leave to start their streaming service

 

[Bigkrev]

I don't think it's possible for a western company to try and launch a gaming-focused streaming service to compete with Amazon (Twitch)- Microsoft completely failed, Google and Facebook aren't really competing with them, and Apple isn't really in a position to compete here- most people don't even care about their content streaming service Apple+ right now.

Could there be a way for a company to launch a livestreaming service that isn't dedicated to gaming, build it for a number of years, and then pivot/incorporate gaming into it? Sure, but that is YEARS of work, and it's pretty unlikely.

 

[Deleted member 19996]

At this point? Probably not. As Mixer saw, fans refused to simply go to a new URL to find streamers that made the switch, even if the tech was much better on Mixer.

 

[Kaeden]

Assuming you have infinite money and have the patience to wait 10+ years, sure it's possible for a viable Twitch competitor to emerge.
But the reason Mixer failed is because Microsoft just threw money at it and expected it to work without really thinking about the long-termm

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And see that's what really confuses me because Microsoft has a ton of money and Mixer had been around a long time. But yeah I just saw your edit and I think that plays a big part as well. It didn't seem to offer anything that I enjoyed, or was different enough, although honestly I can't think of anything that I was looking for to begin with. It was more like, well it's just the same... but worse with much less streamers... so no reason to stick around.

 

[Dyle]

Today the only way to enter the market and get a foothold is to already be giant, like Facebook and Youtube. There was a time when you could do something unique enough to get both streamers and viewers to switch, but that time has passed. The only opportunity is for companies like Apple, Twitter, or Sony who are deeply invested into either the content side or the social media side, and even then they'd have to burn tons of cash and would probably end up failing like Microsoft did.

 

[XR.]

Twitch is huge and has its own unique culture at this point, and you can't get that by merely spending money, it's just impossible.

And the thing is, people aren't looking for alternatives. Twitch serves the purpose perfectly, and you generally don't want more services for the same purpose.

 

[IceburN]

Define "compete". Twitch is probably the most popular platform if you're speaking English, but it is different for other languages. As a Turkish guy, most of the Turkish streamers I watch stream on Facebook. There are some who were YouTubers and moved back to YouTube for streaming since their numbers on Twitch were very low compared to the size of their YouTube channels. There is also things like China's livestreaming sites owned by Tencent.

I'd say some of the others (YouTube, Facebook, Tencent etc.) might not be big as Twitch in Europe/NA, but they could still hold a sizable audience in other countries.

 

[Unkindled]

No, there is not that much $$ to pull big pockets.

 

[StrangerDanger]

Yes, but you need incentives. Twitch benefits by having relationships with companies, devs and people to give viewers exclusive items by watching stream & giving free gifts (amazon twitch rewards). But for a new company to do this, they need to invest a lot of money into the project to get on Twitch's level.

 

[Glio]

It is as likely as beating YouTube in its own field.

 

[Deleted member 16657]

No, unless they can subsidize subscriptions the way Amazon does for Twitch.

 

[Video Games Are Dumb]

Always! As someone who misses Justin TV, lemme assure ya, someone can always come around.

 

[Mass Effect]

Mixer showed the answer to that is probably no.

Besides, Twitch has more competition than Youtube does -- it has... well, Youtube Live, and Facebook competing with it. What competes against Youtube?

 

[iksenpets]

Anything reliant on user created content is going to have really powerful network effects — your platform's value is determined by the number of users on it — which creates a strong pressure towards monopoly. Who's going to go watch your new platform when the other one has ten times as many people actively streaming right now? Breaking into the market requires someone with a huge amount of capital willing to take significant losses while they grow, and willing to spend to basically bribe people onto their platform. Microsoft already burned out on that strategy, and there aren't many better equipped to have done it. And Amazon's pockets are deep to defend themselves if anyone actually made progress.

 

[davepoobond]

YouTube is likely the only competitor that can stick around at this point. I guess Facebook, too.

perhaps Steam/Epic Game Store can build their platforms into something but they hardly are set up business-wise for that.

 

[Alexandros]

Sure, nothing is a monolith. But like Epic Game Store with Steam, it will likely require some dirty tactics that viewers won't like.

Click to shrink...

Mixer tried doing things the Epic way and it failed, as will Epic. If you want to compete you have to offer a better service and unique selling points that people find desirable enough to switch. You can't enter the market years late and expect people to support you just for doing the same thing a bit better or a bit worse.

 

[StallionDan]

Pay devs/publishers to only allow streaming on certain platforms.

 

[CloseTalker]

Mixer tried doing things the Epic way and it failed, as will Epic. If you want to compete you have to offer a better service and unique selling points that people find desirable enough to switch. You can't enter the market years late and expect people to support you just for doing the same thing a bit better or a bit worse.

Click to shrink...

I mean, Mixer tried things the Epic way, but at like 5% the capacity. Mixer thought they could snag two of the biggest streamers and everyone would shift. Maybe getting 100 of the biggest streamers, and making deals with game publishers to incentivize beta access/giveaways/whatever on Mixer would have made a bigger impact. The difference is that Epic went fucking hard, which is why the blowback was just as big as the effectiveness of it.

It's not impossible to compete with Twitch, but that platform is so big and established that it will take a gargantuan amount of money to bring people over.

 

[WhtR88t]

I think Fortnite's live events might have a different take on "live" community experiences younger people might gravitate to.

I think Fortnite's biggest hurdle is how long it takes to sign in, install whatever updates they're pushing and finally get to "live" vs on Twitch just simply launching the app or web site. But I think in the long run they could possibly add spectating, larger hangouts etc.

Party Royal is essentially a giant Twitch chat at this point.

 

[Tabs2002]

Twitch is too established at this point. I don't think they can be challenged.

 

[Mass Effect]

It's not impossible to compete with Twitch, but that platform is so big and established that it will take a gargantuan amount of money to bring people over.

Click to shrink...

Which is why it won't happen any time soon, if ever, especially watching Microsoft be unsuccessful.

Nobody wants to drop that kind of money for potentially nothing. It's too much of a risk.

 

[Prime2]

No, that is just the way it is right now. Twitch is live streaming, even Youtube isn't seen as a place mainly for streams. Twitch also heavily leverages Prime Subs for people, to combat this would take essentially a hostile take over and buying up the majority of Twitch big streamers.

 

[Japanmanx3]

I wouldn't say its impossible but it's also not likely...

 

[Mirage]

Pay devs/publishers to only allow streaming on certain platforms.

Click to shrink...

I think that would lead to some games just not being streamed. Since anyone who's a twitch partner isn't allowed to stream on others platforms.

 

[CloseTalker]

Which is why it won't happen any time soon, if ever, especially watching Microsoft be unsuccessful.

Nobody wants to drop that kind of money for potentially nothing. It's too much of a risk.

Click to shrink...

Haha, people would (and I'm sure did) say the same about Steam four years ago. It's a massive risk, but also massive reward if you land it. But I agree it likely won't happen anytime soon, especially while Mixer failing is still fresh.

 

[strudelkuchen]

Emotes.

 

[Kaeden]

To those who asked, I feel by another platform 'competing' to me means that it really gives the viewer an incentive to want to watch people on their platform versus Twitch. And I'm not talking about the streamers themselves, more like rewards or promotions or something that says 'hey we got a great thing for YOU if you watch over here' instead of what Twitch gives you.

I'm definitely not a fan of something like a big company only streaming their content on one platform or another, I don't want exclusivity like that. I don't want to play that game. I'm watching the CD Project RED stream right now and I don't want something to come along and say lock their stream into one platform and not any others.

As I write this I feel like I'm saying I want this to happen but now I'm not sure I do. But people always say competition is a good thing... right? lol okay maybe not always?

 

[StallionDan]

I think that would lead to some games just not being streamed. Since anyone who's a twitch partner isn't allowed to stream on others platforms.

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I don't know what a Twitch partner is, but if people want to watch Fortnite and a rival paid for exclusive streaming, someone would be streaming it there to watch right? I know people like certain streamers, but if they aren't playing the popular games ever they're gonna lose viewers surely?

 

[Tallshortman]

YouTube is likely the only competitor that can stick around at this point. I guess Facebook, too.

perhaps Steam/Epic Game Store can build their platforms into something but they hardly are set up business-wise for that.

Click to shrink...

Yep Youtube seems to have an audience at least with some pretty successful streamers on there. I don't see Facebook as becoming anything more than a niche platform that forms it's own small community. Twitch is very difficult to assail right now.

 

[Komo]

I could see only Valve, or Twitter getting close to that.

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

I'm not really sure that's applicable. That's only really worked because Netflix largely just licensed content and the content owners have decided to start services with their own content. It'd be more applicable if the some of top Twitch streamers decided to leave to start their streaming service

Click to shrink...

There was once one platform that everyone went to, then other platforms popped up and were able to compete in that space. My point was that it worked in those situations but hasn't for youtube or twitch, so I'm not sure what you saying they are different situations means in this context, that was my point. (Not trying to be rude here, it's just weird to me how people will often quote just one sentence of a post out of context and respond to it, as if the rest of that post wasn't important to the sentence in question)

 

[Ricker]

Trovo and Caffeine are trying but it doesnt seem to be working for now...the new Facebook place from Mixer is still more popular then those 2.

 

[Delusibeta]

Depends on the language. Twitch has English language streaming on lock, and I'd wager most of the European languages would be similar.

That said, I'd wager there would be opportunities elsewhere. For example, India.