Amazon’s (AMZN) Twitch just added 130 million new gamers to its platform. It’s the result of a new product from startup BlueStacks, which has bridged the gap between mobile gaming and PC gaming.
This means gamers can now seamlessly stream popular mobile eSports games such as Blizzard’s (ATVI) Hearthstone, Super Evil Megacorp’s Vainglory, and IGG’s Castle Clash through their PC, which is the platform of choice for the majority of streamers today.
“Both the business and technical models around streaming mobile games have been overly complex up until now,” says John Gargiulo, senior vice president of marketing and business development at BlueStacks. “Together with Twitch, we’ve streamlined things down to one device—your PC. It’s already the main way gamers stream. All we’ve done is added a whole lot of mobile content.”
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The technology works both ways. Twitch broadcasts can stream directly to BlueStacks’ 130 million users. And gamers can stream mobile game play from BlueStacks with one click directly into Twitch.
Gargiulo says the launch of BlueStacks TV opens up the ability to hold tournaments of mobile games such as Vainglory and Hearthstone in Twitch far more easily and frequently. To demonstrate this technology, BlueStacks is hosting a $3,000 Hearthstone invitational with 16 of the top pro gamers.
“Mobile eSports is still on the launchpad for one reason: It’s not nearly as simple to stream a mobile game as it is a PC game,” Gargiulo says. “Streaming and eSports depend on each other, so this is a barrier. BlueStacks TV breaks that down by making mobile gaming as easy to stream as PC gaming.”
Here’s another game you can stream:
Twitch recently partnered with Super Evil Megacorp to build out Vainglory as a mobile eSport. And Gargiulo believes BlueStacks TV will open up additional mobile eSports opportunities.
“We are working with our longtime partner IGG on a Castle Clash tournament next, with Vainglory coming soon after,” Gargiulo says. “The simplicity of streaming makes it easy to get top players to tap into these tournaments.”
This Twitch integration also opens the door for new mobile publishers to find a larger audience.
“We work separately with publishers like Kabam, IGG, and others who don’t have as big a presence on Twitch now, but will as a result of this,” Gargiulo says.
Mark Zhang, a senior vice president at IGG, says the fact that millions of people can stream his company’s Castle Clash to Twitch without his team doing anything is massive.
And it offers mobile companies the ability to grow this new audience into an eSports fan base.
“At a time when eSports has taken off in the PC world and is turning its eyes towards mobile, streaming will be an integral part of mobile’s move into the eSports space, which is why we’ve focused on it,” Gargiulo says.
Based in Silicon Valley with offices in Beijing, Delhi, London, Tokyo, Seoul, and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietman, BlueStacks has raised $27 million from Ignition Partners, Radar Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Samsung, Redpoint, Qualcomm, Intel, Presidio Ventures, Citrix, AMD, and Helion Ventures since launching in 2011.
