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YouTube Gaming has finally revealed its plans for 2022, announcing that it will add an array of new features sooner rather than later. Interestingly, most of them are inspired by Twitch.
The purple platform has cemented itself as a force to be reckoned with in the last few years and has consistently emerged as the biggest streaming platform since. However, YouTube Gaming has gradually been catching up and has even poached some of the biggest content creators from Twitch.
TimTheTatman and DrLupo switched to YouTube in the second half of this year, with more high-profile streamers expected to follow suit.
With more streamers switching to YouTube Gaming, there has been an increase in calls for the platform to implement Twitch-like changes, including chat moderation tools, the ability to "raid" other channels, and implementation of third-party emotes like BTTV and FrankerZ.
From the looks of it, YouTube has finally responded to such requests and has announced its plans to make the platform bigger and better in the coming years.
YouTube Gaming introduces several new features based on Twitch
On October 29, 2021, YouTube Gaming's Ryan ‘Fwiz’ Wyatt detailed some of the platform’s plans for 2022, revealing how they have been working closely with Valkyrae and CouRage on some of these.
Two of the biggest updates include Gifted YouTube Gaming memberships and Live Direct, which will be easily recognizable for long-term users of the red platform.
The former is pretty straightforward and will allow users to gift YouTube Gaming subscriptions to others, while the latter is similar to Twitch's raid feature.
Improvements in discoverability have been on the table for as long as fans can remember. Streamers have criticized the platform for making it difficult for them to explore the platform, as opposed to Twitch's user-friendly directory.
Esports will continue to be supported too, with the Minecraft Championships Pride 2021 (which raised over $340,000 for the Trevor Project charity) as a major success.
YouTube Gaming will also boast new moderation tools for streams and streamers. Furthermore, they will be tweaking the Clips tool to enhance it to an unrivaled level. The is being done to convert clips to YouTube shorts, which are pretty similar to TikTok.
It remains to be seen when these features will be added to YouTube Gaming. However, it's safe to say that doing it sooner will encourage streamers from other platforms to jump ship to the red platform.
