Conventions, or cons, have been the staple of various entertainment industries over the last couple of decades with many brands using them to create a physical & tangible environment around their products. From San Diego Comic Con, E3 and Gamescom, there is always a convention happening somewhere that will appeal to different interest groups.
With stats suggesting that the future of e-sport looks very strong at present it makes perfect sense that the streaming platform Twitch, and their parent company Amazon, move into the convention sphere as a means of gathering traction with the mainstream media. Twitch has slowly been amassing a lot of traction among gamers who are keen to watch live stream events such as DOTA 2 or just be involved in anything related to Destiny, Heartstone or FIFA 16.
Key Note
Twitchcon 2015 was aimed at gamers/partners with displays from gaming companies and hardware providers who were on hand to talk attendees through the best rigs for their livestreams. The venue was decked out in the brands colour scheme, which meant that attendees were bathed in a slight purple glow for most of their visit. As the demographics of the platform range from the young all the way up to parents, the organisers went to great lengths to ensure that elements that you would normally see at a convention, booth girls and cosplay, were absent from the event. A move that highlights their dedication to ensuring that they remain open to all attendees and those who might have any hesitations about allowing their children attend.
This idea of a shared community of like minded people who all shared the same interest but have different ways of enjoying the platform is one of the biggest selling points of Twitch. A look at the top gaming streams for the month of September 2015 shows a great diversity of game choices available with the likes of League of Legends, DOTA 2, Destiny, Super Mario Maker and Poker amassing impressive viewing figures for the month. Poker has become one of the most viewed game types on the platform since channels started streaming the popular game with Twitch reporting that nearly 56million minutes of poker, from different channels and users, was streamed in January 2015 alone. When you consider that the revenue projections for social casino, examples include KamaGames titles such as Pokerist, Roulettist and Man Utd social casino, is estimated by some to be $2.9 billion for the forthcoming year; then there is clear signs that this area is becoming more popular with audiences.
The actual keynote was giving by Emmett Shear, CEO of the company, and featured a number of news stories that show the direction of the company over the coming months. Chief among those was some of the following:
o Users to upload videos to the service without having to stream them first.
o Broadcasters will also be able to create playlists of their content using either archived streams or highlights.
o A full HTML5 player will be released shortly.
o Customisable thumbnails for archived broadcasts and highlights.
o A new Twitch viewing app will be released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita before the end of 2015.
The event also allowed the platform to highlight the charity aspect of their community base with Twitch suggesting that users raised nearly $15 million for American Red Cross, Game Changer, and Operation Supply Drop through charitable activities. This was showcased in their Charity Zone where attendees had the opportunity to learn more about the activities of others and how to get involved themselves.