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YouTube Launches Mobile Game-Streaming Service

Video platform YouTube has announced it will soon enable mobile game streaming from its Android app.
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/ Source: CNBC.com

Video platform YouTube has announced it will soon enable mobile game streaming from its Android app, allowing players to share gameplay clips and live streams.

Ryan Wyatt, YouTube's head of global gaming content, revealed the feature this week during a keynote speech at the Tokyo Game Show.

The feature will be simple enough to use that "anyone can stream, from any Android device, anywhere in the world", Wyatt said during the speech.

Read More from CNBC: YouTube Gaming launches to take on Twitch

YouTube launched a streaming service, called YouTube Gaming, last month. Currently, users can only stream games from consoles or their PCs, and need to use extra software or peripheral devices to capture video from mobile games.

YouTube is competing with streaming provider Twitch, which is more established in gaming culture and has offered mobile game streaming since 2014.

But YouTube hopes to use its scale to gain a competitive edge.

"It will, although there's a wider competitive landscape at work here beyond Twitch," Steve Bailey, senior game analyst at I.H.S, told CNBC via email. "Numerous other, specialized streaming services are emerging, some of which focus entirely on mobile, so without some measure of response aimed at this device category, YouTube risks being side-lined as a latecomer.

Twitch also risks being overtaken if it doesn't continue to innovate, added Bailey.

"As video becomes the default mode of consumption for an entire generation, so people will increasingly expect their services to be able to hop between devices as seamlessly as they do."

The YouTube mobile streaming service will be limited to Android devices, as it's currently not possible to stream content from an Apple device.

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"Apple, or iOS more specifically, has a stricter and more limited policy of what apps can do on its devices," Tony Maroulis, senior mobile analyst for I.H.S., explained to CNBC in an email. "However, Apple also has a more rigorous process of app approval for its App Store, and an app is likely on its way, but it is currently under scrutiny for App Store approval."

The service will initially be available in Japan, which is the first Asian country in which YouTube Gaming was launched, but it is not yet known when it will be available globally.