Twitch's popularity grows but what is it?

Okay we all like to play a game or two from time to time. Occasionally you may peer over the shoulder of another to see what they are playing maybe buy it yourself if you like it.  Maybe your just waiting your turn to unleash mayhem with a buddy next to you... So a site completely dedicated to live streams of people playing video games can't be very successful? Surely?

Twitch is growing in popularity fast. So fast in fact people are now actually starting to earn money by playing video games and streaming continuously their gameplay. They respond to comments and have a screen capture of themselves making a unique advertising possibility appear.  Some gamers are even sponsored and you can sponsor them to play which will ensure that their channel of game streaming will continue. We have all seen the adverts in YouTube, well think of this as a dedicated gaming advertising platform.

I'm not entirely sure when I talk about Twitch I can explain or get across what this phenomenon is. I explain it and it sounds like the most uninteresting and impossible business platform to make any money what so ever. Then if you actually go to Twitch you can find yourself watching for more than just a few minutes. Hours are even possible watching someone else play.  It has a certain freedom to let you interact with another gamer, find out their favourite parts of the game and also to see tactics and maybe gain some inside knowledge of how to better play the game of interest.  Eve Online is definitely a popular game online, having players stream their gameplay can help a newcomer to the game to advance at a much faster rate in one of the worlds most complicated and epic games.

So other than looking for tips and advice, tactics or cheats what else is capturing audiences in such great numbers to watch video gameplay? There is an interaction with the gameplayer (host) you can chat through voice or simply type text into a message window which the user can hear or read and respond to you.  I have often also watched games which I thought i wouldn't buy or play and actually found that I like the game.  So I find myself looking at Twitch to see gameplay of a game to confirm my decision about which games I purchase.  Long gone are the days of the demo.... so this really is a neat alternative.

One of the greatest and probably least recognized feature of Twitch is the fact that you can actually see games before they come out.  This is amazing.  You can actually see gameplay of games which have not even gone to gold (been printed on CD).  Games like Elite Dangerous and Drive Club are often viewed as developers and testers air their game time on occasion.  This is a real sneak peak into the actual progress and gameplay and I feel gives more perspective of the finished product than a E3 display.

So to sum it up Twitch, although an unlikely business model has proved with great success that this unique platform is in demand. For a multitude of reasons seasoned game players all over the world are finding they are tuning into Twitch more and more. Hints, tips, tactics and just for the hell of seeing someone totally make a mess of things in GTAV will keep the masses entertained more than they realized. I really did not expect to enjoy watching other people play.... I was wrong!