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A32    FEATURE
                    Thursday 6 July 2017
            In video games, spectating is the new advertising




            DERRIK J. LANG                                                                                                      changing how game mak-
             AP Entertainment Writer                                                                                            ers  market  and  promote
            LOS  ANGELES  (AP)  —  The                                                                                          their  latest  creations.  It’s
            rise  of  online  audiences                                                                                         also  reshaping  how  they
            watching  video  gamers                                                                                             design games from the out-
            stream  themselves  playing                                                                                         set.
            isn’t  simply  a  new  form  of                                                                                     As   the   developers   at
            entertainment seen by mil-                                                                                          Ready  at  Dawn  games
            lions. It’s also driving video                                                                                      were  crafting  their  up-
            game  sales,  and  drawing                                                                                          coming         multiplayer
            the  attention  of  federal                                                                                         game        “Deformers,”a
            regulators.                                                                                                         smash-’em-up  brawler  in
            A  study  released  Wednes-                                                                                         which  players  controlling
            day by live streaming com-                                                                                          squishy characters attempt
            pany  Twitch  attributed  25                                                                                        to  push  each  other  off  a
            percent of sales of releases                                                                                        platform,  they  realized  the
            like  the  fighting  simula-                                                                                        action  wasn’t  always  easy
            tor  “Punch  Club”  and  the                                                                                        for spectators to follow. For
            kill-or-be-killed  multiplayer                                                                                      the  end  of  every  match,
            game  “The  Culling”  to                                                                                            they  created  an  instant
            those games being played                                                                                            replay  feature  that  shows
            on Twitch. The study found                                                                                          strands of different colored
            that viewers were more like-  In this June 12, 2014 file photo, people watch the “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare” video game   lines  to  illustrate  where
            ly to buy a game within 24   trailer at the Activision booth at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, in Los Angeles.   players had moved.
            hours of watching a stream                                                                        Associated Press   “For  us,  watchability  is  a
            of the game in action.                                                                                              massive    consideration,”
            “There’s  a  clear  relation-  sorship  disclosure  where  Twitch’s  daily  active  users  Warman,  CEO  of  Newzoo.  said  Ru  Weerasuriya,  co-
            ship between viewing and  consumers  couldn’t  easily  have  grown  this  year  from  “I  think  game  companies  founder at Ready at Dawn.
            purchasing behavior,” said  spot it.                      8.9 to 9.6 million.          are  realizing  this  opens  “Our players are no longer
            Twitch data scientist Danny  “If I did something wrong, I  The   interactive   industry  up  new  revenue  possibili-  the  traditional  players  that
            Hernandez,  who  studied  should be paying the con-       tracker  Newzoo  said  in  ties — not just selling games  we were designing games
            users who connected their  sequences,”       PewDiePie  a February report that over  — but advertising and con-     for 10  years  ago. They are
            Twitch  account  to  online                                                                                         grandmas, school kids and
            game retailer Steam for in-                                                                                         spectators  who  all  want
            creased social interaction.                                                                                         to play — and watch — in
            It’s not only the most popu-                                                                                        very different ways.”
            lar  online  players  who  in-                                                                                      While  most  online  gaming
            fluence  sales.  Hernandez                                                                                          content  is  viewed  on  You-
            found  that  mid-tier  Twitch                                                                                       Tube  and  Twitch,  Face-
            streamers — those with au-                                                                                          book  is  now  attempting
            diences  between  33  and                                                                                           to  lure  gamers  to  its  own
            3,333 concurrent viewers —                                                                                          streaming  service,  Face-
            are  responsible  for  46  per-                                                                                     book Live. The social media
            cent of game sales.                                                                                                 giant  partnered  earlier  this
            While the majority of online                                                                                        summer  with  “Overwatch”
            gamers freely stream them-                                                                                          and “Call of Duty” publish-
            selves playing, many of the                                                                                         er Activision Blizzard Inc. to
            most  popular  streamers                                                                                            broadcast live games and
            with millions of followers are                                                                                      e-sports  events  on  the  so-
            now regularly paid or spon-                                                                                         cial network.
            sored  by  game  publishers,                                                                                        The  medium  also  no  lon-
            a practice that was recent-                                                                                         ger seems relegated to the
            ly investigated by the Fed-                                                                                         indoors  anymore.  A  few
            eral Trade Commission.                                                                                              savvy  gamers  have  be-
            The  FTC  said  on  Monday                                                                                          gun  streaming  themselves
            that Warner Bros. will settle                                                                                       playing  mobile  games  like
            charges  it  deceived  con-   In this June 15, 2016 file photo, a spectator watches players trying out the PlayStation “Gravity   “Pokemon  Go,”  the  aug-
            sumers by not properly dis-  Rush 2” video game at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.   Associated Press  mented  reality  sensation
            closing  it  paid  influencers                                                                                      that’s  played  on  smart-
            with big followings on You-  said  in  a  video  posted  470  million  gamers  watch  tent rights.”                 phones in the real world.q
            Tube  to  promote  the  ac-  Wednesday  on  YouTube.  online  gaming  content  on  Warman noted that online
            tion  game  “Middle-earth:  “In this case, I don’t think I  a  regular  basis  and  that  video  is  more  than  twice   Like us on
            Shadow of Mordor” in 2014.   did anything wrong.”         number is expected to sur-   as effective to reach con-     Facebook
            The  government  said  War-  As many outside the gam-     pass  500  million  viewers  in  sumers  as  TV.  He  said  35
            ner  Bros.  hired  YouTubers  ing realm continue to won-  2016.                        percent of gamers use You-
            such  as  Felix  “PewDiePie”  der  why  anyone  would  “The convergence of video  Tube to discover new titles,
            Kjellberg,   who    boasts  want  to  watch  someone  and  games  means  game  while  only  14  percent  do
            over  46  million  subscrib-  else  play  a  video  game  companies  can  now  en-     through TV commercials.
            ers,  through  an  advertis-  online,  the  audience  for  tertain  people  across  all  The  boost  in  sales  from
            ing agency and instructed  such  content  continues  to  screens  at  every  moment  viewers  watching  online
            them  to  publish  the  spon-  swell to staggering heights.  of  the  day,”  said  Peter  game  streams  isn’t  merely   facebook.com/bondianoticia
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