Sony adds live broadcasting to videogame play

Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) on Friday announced an alliance with Twitch to let gamers broadcast online play live for others to watch.

The feature will make its debut in massively multiplayer online first-person shooter computer game "PlanetSide 2" which will launch in North America and Europe on November 20.

The free-to-play title lets thousands of online players simultaneously engage in virtual combat on an alien planet. Beta testing of the ability to live stream gameplay using Twitch was set to be expanded this weekend.

"We believe very strongly in providing deeper social and emergent gameplay experiences," said SOE president John Smedley.

"The ability for our players to broadcast their gameplay directly to Twitch will provide Twitch's huge user base a chance to see the massive scale battles in PlanetSide 2 for themselves," he continued.

"We've gone out of our way to make the interface extremely easy to use and allow players to cast with just one-click."

Twitch bills itself as the world's largest videogame broadcasting network.

Millions of people monthly watch videogame play streamed using TwitchTV, which boasts partners such as the Electronic Sports League, Major League Gaming and IGN Pro League.

San Francisco-based Twitch was created by the founders of live video streaming platform Justin.tv—Justin Kan and Emmett Shear.

TwitchTV launched last year and has since made a partnership with television titan CBS to get money-making video and display ads to weave in during breaks in live game play.

Twitch "broadcasters" range from professional gaming leagues to individual players.

"With the Twitch community now in excess of 20 million gamers, live broadcasting has evolved from a niche novelty to an integral part of the gaming experience," said Twitch marketing vice president Matthew DiPietro.

"We're in discussions with the industry's largest developers and publishers, so there's no question that integrating turn-key live broadcasting into games is the future of this industry."