Is "Watching" Gaming's Next Big Thing?

The idea of building a business around videogame spectatorship is one that has been around for decades. While competitive ventures such as Major League Gaming and other purveyors of e-sports are unlikely to achieve the mainstream success of an NFL or MLB anytime soon, streaming sites like Twitch and Machinima are showing that there is a real and voracious audience that wants to watch gaming content. The importance of social media and the level of interest surrounding gaming streams have not gone unnoticed by gaming's biggest players. Are spectator platforms a key part of success in the latest console race?

[ArchangelMike]

Nope. People don't put down 500bucks just to watch someone else play. I get esports and the huge spectatorship of games like starcraft and starcraft 2, and the MOBA games like LoL, and DOTA 2. But as you can see, these are mainly PC games.

Yeah, I know PS4 and XOne give players the ability to capture and share gameplay, but I don't see this as a massive draw in any case. Peeps might use it to see how to beat a boss, or to beat a level; but I really don't see peeps running and switching on their next-gen consoles just to watch other play Watchdogs, or Destiny. Naa, they'll boot up and jump in and upload their own vids.

What I would watch however, is shows like Battlefield friends http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Machinama do a great job, and it's absolutely hilarious, because it's true. I can't wait for their BFF BF4 season. Those I would watch on my PS4.

[Fireseed]

Yeah and if the tools were open enough and more accesible it's entirely possible for the consoles to have their own game that's as watched as DOTA and LoL. In fact the majority of the time I watch such events I do it on my console so I can utilize my TV. Spectating games is undoubtedly becoming HUGE and it would be smart for console manufactures to adopt that because it promotes a much healthier and more vibrant community.

[pompombrum]

Nope it won't happen.. developers have it in their minds that to be a successful console game, it has to be as accessible to the masses as possible. Problem with this is that it takes away from the skill cap required at higher levels. It's the high level play which makes it so enjoyable and a hyped experience imho.

Besides, didn't Treyarch start dipping their feet in that water with Black Op 2? I don't know how it turned out but tbh I wouldn't want to watch competitive cod for the reason mentioned above.

Honestly the only console game genre I see it potentially working well with would be Fighting games. A ridiculously high skill gap between new and experienced players, usually somewhat accessible and the fights are both fun to watch and easy to follow. Only problem with that is that Street Fighter is probably the only game with enough world appeal really and it's going to be a long wait before we see a next gen Street Fighter game.

[CRAIG667]

Depends on personal preference, I love watching the like's of Justin Wong kick ass in SF4, and look forward to following him on XB1,and trying learn some of his Killer Instinct techniques...

[DeadlyFire]

Its not about watching them on PS4/1BX. Twitch and Ustream are universal to all platforms or soon will be at some point. So watching/viewing gameplay doesn't have to be done on a console at all, but soon yes it will be spreading.

Esports has been a long time in the shadows, but its very likely to emerge in a big way over the next decade. The only downside I see is big Esports setups only go for one big game to use when there are multiple possibilities.

[miyamoto]

Nope. M$'s tv tv tv tv tv gimmick is aimed towards American's. I strongly doubt it will work well in the US & much more unlikely outside it because its a herculean task to get these networks to support a niche of the entertainment industry like the xbox platform in the US even if M$ has $250 billion worth of market capitalization.

[Fireseed]

You clearly didn't read the article.

[miyamoto]

Oh yes I did and my comment is spot on the subject.

Only in 'Murica. Steve Baldmer's lobbying of cable and hollywood companies will prove worthless to gaming consumers because aside from being behind a paywall these subscription based cable service on top of another subscription is not the future of "watching whatever" its the free model of watching videos- live streaming or not over the internet.

If PS3 as the no. 1 Netflix viewing platform on the planet Earth, proved my point this gen, you can bet the PS4 is more ready and capable as the next gen multi media viewing device king.

The PS4's "Share" button is proof that Sony will take live streaming to a whole new level next gen.

13 countries is so telling as to how unprepared M$ is with the Xposed One.

Watch and see what is about to unfold.

[LackTrue4K]

@ article, I guess so....now it's the consoles turn to " watch us play"

[AngelicIceDiamond]

"Yeah, I know PS4 and XOne give players the ability to capture and share gameplay, but I don't see this as a massive draw in any case."

Well, The watch or tune in feature can be pretty popular if its as accessible as MS and Sony says it is. Its really all about how fast and easy I can access and watch/ join your MP.

But then again your are right how much will people care ultimately? Besides YouTuber's, social butter flies and streaming sites taking great advantage of this, regular people want privacy when playing games and ultimately don't like dozens of notifications coming at them.

I can see allot of gamers turning off some of those instant watch or spectate as well as other social features. They just get in the way for a good handful of people.

[ninjahunter]

There are only 2 types of games i like to watch, that would be starcraft, and fighting games. Why? Because their skill ceiling is so incredibly high that it is interesting to see the potential, and it makes you almost want to strive for that.

[byeGollum]

Well, the features are optional, are they not?

[WeAreLegion]

I personally can't wait for this to take off.

[x5exotic]

It already is, but in a different way; sadly, devs are forgetting that we are supposed to play the GAMEPLAY, not the story.
Cough * heavy rain mass effect*
This type of make your own story shit is a cop out for terrible writing.

[BitbyDeath]

Surprised the article didn't even mention 'Live on Playstation'.
Will make for an awesome screensaver against some music.

[Archaon87]

Esports has never been something I've been interested in watching but then I've never really been interested in any sports. I can see the appeal though and the more ways for it to be accessible to people that want to watch it the better.

[_LarZen_]

It is gigantic on PC already. Been for years now. I think it's going to explode when the PS4 and XBO comes out.