Effects of Twitch Streaming Towards the Video Games Developers in the Industry

Abstract

This study focuses on how the social media platform Twitch.tv is a benefit or detriment to the video games industry. With live streaming becoming the new form of interaction on social media, Twitch.tv is considered to be at the top of the field. The platform's primary focus is more towards gaming thus the aim of this research is targeted at whether this platform would impact the industry as the content shown on the platform could directly affect the sales of the game. This study provides the necessary information that allows developers from the industries to design and create their games with the utilization of Twitch.tv in mind. A Qualitative method was used where interviews were conducted towards an industry developer and student developers where questions were asked regarding their views of the platforms and how they have used the platforms for their own games and designs with the social media platform in mind. The interviews proved that Twitch.tv is a useful marketing tool with more benefits than detriments. The research shows that multiplayer games benefit a lot from the use of Twitch.tv while Singleplayer suffers a setback from the social media platform. Further research for this study can be conducted in which the correlation and marketing can be done from both streamers and developers directly.