YouTube is to launch its for video gamers at 18:00 GMT on Wednesday evening. YouTube Gaming is a dedicated app and website focusing exclusively on gaming content, with a greater emphasis on live steams. The video sharing giant told the BBC it wanted tackle a "fragmented" experience for the gaming genre.
One expert said YouTube was "fighting back" against rivals such as Twitch and Daily Motion. Gaming videos are a big draw for YouTube and the company said its visitors spent billions of hours watching them every month. YouTube’s most-followed star Felix Kjellberg, known as PewDiePie, is a gamer.
"We wanted to create a one-stop shop for all gaming content," YouTube’s head of gaming Ryan Wyatt told the BBC. "At the moment there is a fragmented experience. People go to different places for live content, and YouTube for video on demand. "We have amazing gamers that don’t live stream yet. Now they have that opportunity."