Over the past week, two separate stories have shed some light on a big hole in the Xbox One’s feature set. Oddly enough, it’s a hole I’d wager a lot of gamers didn’t even think they’d notice.
The Xbox One shipped without the ability to stream content on Twitch.
The two separate stories I’m referencing? First, 20% of all streaming content on Twitch is coming from the PlayStation 4. Second, the Xbox One reportedly won’t see Twitch for a few more months.
An easy feature that’s gaining traction.
Okay, for this argument to hold water, I need you to dismiss any particular love you have for one console manufacturer. Dismiss the fact that you love Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft or, if you’re like me, all three. Get rid of that. Let’s think of this purely as blind consumers without any brand allegiance.
The Xbox One (and the Wii U for that matter) is sitting on shelves without an awesome feature. Twitch streaming is getting huge. As gaming grows in popularity, there’s a subset of fans that enjoy actively spectating games they want and games they like. These spectators rely on stuff like streams to make purchasing decisions and to rally behind software.
Look at the PlayStation 4. If you were to hop over to Twitch right now, you’d find that, of all the streams happening at once, at least 20% of them come from Sony’s newest console. Why? Sharing is stupid easy, and streaming to Twitch happens at the press of a button and, maybe, one or two menu selections.
It’s so easy, in fact, that it’s making non-streamers into streamers. I’d never streamed content before I owned a PlayStation 4. Now? I do it just because I can.
Sony made sharing a pillar of the PlayStation 4. So much so that there’s actually a button specifically for it on the system’s new controller. The Xbox One has a penchant for sharing, too, and streaming was one of the promised features back during 2013’s E3 showing. It’s just not here yet.
A missed opportunity.
The absence of streaming on Twitch, as simple as it may seem, has turned into a big hole for the Xbox One. Even without anecdotal evidence, Sony’s shared several times that sharing is catching on. In early December, the company tweeted that the share button had been used 6.5 million times since launch.
That’s 6.5 million pieces of advertisement, folks. Forget the “social gaming” message of community that these companies are preaching. Sharing content from hardware you purchased with friends and saying “look at how cool this is” amounts to free advertisement for Sony.
Every time you stream a game, upload a picture or record a video and share those pieces of media with friends and strangers, you’re essentially sharing the PlayStation brand and increasing awareness. That awareness is getting even bigger for Sony, thanks to its presence on Twitch, and Microsoft is missing the boat.
A few months from now? Sure, the Xbox One will likely have the same feature. And, if Microsoft is smart, it’ll even include the ability to stream directly to YouTube from the console. Right now? There are nearly four million Xbox One owners that could be serving as marketing points on Twitch. Instead, they aren’t.
I didn’t see this coming back in June of last year, but Microsoft really needs Twitch.
