Everyone wants to get in on the social gaming action these days, especially with the likes of Twitch.tv drumming up 100 million monthly viewers that watch gameplay for hours on end. Now, a spin-off from gaming site Raptr wants to capture these moments for gamers to watch any time.
Re/Code reports that Raptr has launched Plays.tv, a new channel that works closely with PC gamers. It enables users to download an application that records game screens any time they play, and they can simply press a key and have a short clip ready to share with the rest of the gaming community. Plays.tv connects with a number of social sites, such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, so clips can be shared outside of its site.
“Games are designed to have these moments of delight,” Raptr CEO Dennis Fong said. “It’s a pretty cool moment that’s a window into other people and for discovering new games, new worlds and new experiences.”
Users can decide how long a game clip to record, anywhere from 20 seconds to 20 minutes. Fong believes this casual approach could easily drive “tens of millions” of users onto the site to create their own gaming memories.
Raptr built the site with a little help from new funding, as it raised $14 million through partners like AMD, Accel Partners, DAG Ventures and Tenaya Capital.
As innovative as this sounds, Sony does something similar with its PlayStation 4, enabling users to share gaming sessions simply with the push of a button (marked SHARE) and then edit their gameplay clips for upload to YouTube and other sites. However, Plays.tv focuses more on the PC gaming community, where there are thousands of titles available – and way more opportunity to diversify broadcasts with content from more popular games like League of Legends, as well as more obscure titles.
Fong believes that the new service won’t be direct competition to Twitch, since it’s being optimized for longer video sessions and live viewing events, including forthcoming eSports tournaments that weren’t yet detailed.
How successful Plays.tv will be depends on what kind of audience it brings in. But, with a tie-in to the Raptr service, it has a chance for success. Here’s hoping the team goes places with it – and creates a few memories in the process.
