Twitch announces Twitch Squad Stream, Twitch Sings, and additional tools during TwitchCon 2018
Twitch details its commitment to the community during its TwitchCon 2018 keynote.
The TwitchCon 2018 keynote was filled with some interesting reveals for the streaming platform, themed around growth, connecting with streamers and the community, and thriving as a platform.
Among some of the new tools and updates detailed during the TwitchCon 2018 keynote were new Squad Stream, Highlight Editor updates, and additional featured sections on the Twitch homepage. Squad Stream will allow up to four people to stream together on one Twitch channel in a single view that can be shared on desktop and mobile platforms. Chat will be linked to whatever a viewer selects as their main view, which should make swapping out communities simple and easy. The feature will be rolling out to select users later this year for testing.
Go live on Twitch with up to three other streamers, all in a single view.
— Twitch (@Twitch) October 26, 2018
Squad Stream rolls out in 2019. pic.twitter.com/UIkbSmNIBI
Highlight Editor updates will soon let streamers edit together moments from one video into one highlight to make their reels more varied and engaging. This particular change is targeting a January debut. In addition, the new Twitch featured sections will start rolling out later this year that show off new Partners and Affiliates, up-and-coming streamers, and even local streams to the viewers checking out the show.
A wide set of tools and updates were detailed during the stream as well, such as a Snap Camera and custom Extension for Twitch, VIP Badges, new chat moderator tools, Roles management pages, and subscription badge changes. The Snap Camera and extension bring Snap's standalone desktop app's Lenses and will work with a special Twitch extension. Players can download the Snap Camera desktop app and then choose a Lens they can utilize while streaming, which viewers can then unlock via Snapcode. These can be toggled on and off according to what the streamer desires including custom lenses like a Super Saiyan power-up and more. The app and custom Twitch Extension is available today.
As far as moderator tools go, there's an expanded set of them. You can simply click on someone's Twitch username to see how long the person has been on Twitch, how many timeouts or bans they've received, and even add mod-specific comments to share with the channel owner and mods. This will be coming to the platform in January 2019. VIP badges will also be available to be given out to important members of communities, and creators will be able to view, manage, and change community member roles soon, including VIP, Moderator and Editor via one page for it all. Meanwhile, subscription badges will now reflect the total number of months subscribed, even if a month gets skipped. This will also be touching down in January 2019.
One of the most interesting additions to the Twitch fold is Twitch Sings, a new karaoke-style game that allows creators to select from hundreds of songs to make for some fun musical performances. Viewers can request songs, cheer to get light shows going, and offer streamers challenges to tackle. It's available now for TwitchCon 2018 attendees to try out, but a closed beta is coming in 2018 on PC, iOS, and Android. You can register here to see when slots open up on the beta list.
Twitch Rivals will also be expanding, doubling in size to 128 events and covering additional games and genres, including single-player RPGs, with millions of dollars in cash and prizes up for grabs in the near future.
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replyBrittany Vincent posted a new article, Twitch announces Twitch Rivals program, Twitch Sings, and additional tools during TwitchCon 2018
