Rock Around, it’s Twitchy!

The Twitch streaming services will finally be coming to Xbox One and will be available in time for the release of Titanfall, the Xbox One’s killer app. The Twitch app will be updated on March 11th when Titanfall releases, as reported by the Associated Press. Previously Xbox One owners were only able to upload clips from the Xbox Upload Studio but that’s all about to change.

The Twitch services will be completely integrated with the Xbox One. Providing users with complete access of the service that they provide on the web. Users will be able to set up their stream and use their Kinect’s camera to broadcast themselves to the world. Spectators are able to view any stream on Twitch, no matter the source. Spectators will also be able to join the broadcaster’s party and take part in different ways. The Twitch chat will also be available for broadcasters to easily see during their broadcast and interact with the spectators in an easily accessible way.

Sony’s Playstation 4 has had Twitch streaming since launch on November 15th 2013. The downside to the PS4 Twitch service is it was developed by Sony and not the Twitch team. Spectators of Twitch on the PS4 are limited to only spectating other PS4 broadcasts. The Xbox One Twitch app is developed by the Twitch team alongside Microsoft, and will offer full access to the Twitch services.

Here is what Microsoft’s vice president of marketing and strategy for Xbox, Yusuf Mehdi had to say.

“That’s a very certain type of experience, [on PS4]” “For us, we thought that was too limiting for what our fans would want. Our fans really want the full next-gen service, so that’s why we decided to take our time, do it right and have it come out in this fashion.”

My Take

I personally didn’t mind the wait for the Xbox One Twitch streaming services and it seems like they got it right. The only concern I have with the Xbox One Twitch app is it is going to require broadcasters to have the Twitch app snapped to the right of their TV. I’m not quite sure how I feel about having a quarter of my TV devoted to looking at myself through the Kinect’s camera. I would prefer that the Twitch app stream in the background but can still run all of its processes such as video feed and chat services. This could be a feature, but we won’t know for sure until the first week and a half of March.

[Sources] Gamasutra, Associated Press.