People have not hesitated to take advantage of the PlayStation 4’s livestreaming capabilities.
Livestreaming website Twitch revealed that since the introduction of the PlayStation 4, over 100,000 new users have broadcasted gameplay using its service, and nearly one out of every 10 Twitch streams originates from a PlayStation 4.
Sony further revealed that players have initiated 800,000 individual broadcasts. PlayStation 4 owners have livestreamed for a total of 20 million minutes, which is equivalent to about 38 years.
“When people look back at the true game changers of 2013, the integration of Twitch into the current generation consoles will be on the short list,” Twitch vice president of marketing Matthew DiPietro said in a statement provided to GamesBeat. “As testament to the growing appeal of live broadcasting video game content, the amount of broadcasters on Twitch has grown from around 600,000 in October to more than 700,000 in November. In addition to more than 100,000 new broadcasters signing up since the launch of PlayStation 4, PS4 owners make up 10 percent of all content on Twitch based on minutes broadcast.”
Livestreaming to Twitch, as well as Ustream, is a built-in feature of the PlayStation 4. Players can start broadcasting at any time during a game by hitting the share button. So far, the top games for PS4 streaming include Battlefield 4, Killzone: Shadow Fall, and Call of Duty: Ghosts.
“PlayStation 4 is specifically designed so people can share their gaming experiences — and interest in streaming live gameplay has surpassed our wildest expectations,” Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida said in a statement. “We’re very excited to see gamers embrace livestreaming from their PS4 system and we look forward to seeing how PlayStation gamers advance social gaming in the coming years.”
Microsoft’s Xbox One currently does not have any built-in streaming features. Like the PlayStation 4, Xbox One enables gamers to record gameplay and share the video, but Twitch broadcasting isn’t coming to Microsoft’s next-gen console until early 2014.