YouTube goes after gamers with dedicated app and site to take on Amazon’s Twitch
- Will feature individual pages dedicated to more than 25,000 games
- Twitch was acquired by Amazon last year for nearly $1 billion
- Google had also been in the running to buy firm
YouTube is seeking to win over gamers.
The online video giant announced plans ahead of next week's Electronic Entertainment Expo to launch a separate app and site specifically for fans of video games.
YouTube product manager Alan Joyce said in a statement Friday that YouTube Gaming will be a destination for users to find gaming videos, live streams and Internet personalities.
The app and site will feature individual pages dedicated to more than 25,000 games.
Scroll down for video
This photo provided by YouTube shows YouTube Gaming, a new app and site specifically aimed at gamers launching this summer.
Joyce noted that if a user began searching for the word 'call' on the YouTube Gaming app, the military shooter 'Call of Duty,' not the Carly Rae Jepsen tune 'Call Me Maybe' would appear first.
YouTube will also seek to make it easier for users to broadcast live and competitive gaming, known as e-sports, by creating singular links that can be shared and removing the need to schedule a broadcast.
'When I look at where YouTube is weaker in the gaming content space, I think live and e-sports,' said Ryan Wyatt, YouTube's global head of gaming content, in an interview last month.
'In the coming weeks, you're going to see us make improvements to our live product, and we do want to invest in e-sports from a content perspective.
'In some ways, it's still nascent, but there is something to say about the future of e-sports, and we definitely want to be part of it.'
The move by Google-owned YouTube takes direct aim at Twitch, the gaming-centric streaming video site acquired by Amazon last year for nearly $1 billion.
While YouTube remains the dominant online video site, Twitch has solidified itself over the past three years as a destination to stream gameplay from such titles as 'League of Legends' and 'Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.' Twitch now boasts 100 million users who watch 1.5 million broadcasters a month.
YouTube Gaming is scheduled to debut this summer in the U.S. and U.K. The app and site will be previewed at YouTube's booth on the E3 show floor beginning Tuesday.
This photo provided by YouTube shows YouTube Gaming, a new app and site specifically aimed at gamers launching this summer. YouTube announced the new app and site Friday, June 12, 2015, ahead of 2015 Electronic Entertainment Expo. The expo runs June 16-18, 2015, in Los Angeles. (YouTube via AP)
- The littlest roar! Baby lion's howl sounds more like a...
- Bully beating on blind teen gets serious payback
- Miracle baby Jaxon Buell shows off his walking and talking
- 'King of gypsy music' beats pregnant girlfriend on live TV
- Airbus A380 caught up in terrifying crosswind landing
- Pope blesses disabled boy as he arrives in Philadelphia
- NFL star's wife pulled over for 'driving while black' in NJ
- GRAPHIC: Police shoot and kill Delaware man in wheelchair
- Reporter harassed during interview about sexual harassment
- Saudi prince arrested for alleged sex crime in Beverly Hills
- Stunning isolated homes revealed on Cabin Porn Instagram
- GRAPHIC CONTENT: Vicious unprovoked attack on elderly man
- Germany in a state of SIEGE: Merkel was cheered when she...
- Holy water: Congressman steals Pope Francis' glass after...
- EXCLUSIVE: It's a miracle - How Jaxon, the baby given days...
- 'Despicable' Saudi prince 'sexually abused multiple women...
- High school teen who defended a blind classmate who was...
- The Pope takes on Trump: Francis makes thinly-veiled swipe...
- Meet the kids of The Sweetheart Rink: Photographer unearths...
- Having a ball! Stunning Michelle Obama and pregnant...
- Where tech millionaires go 'Into the Wild': Vimeo founder...
- What's eating Posh & Becks? She's tipsy. He's stony-faced....
- Who said romance is dead? Woman politely declines a second...
- Pregnant Priscilla Chan, dazzling Michelle Obama and top...