Valve has officially introduced a streaming platform Steam.tv Currently, the platform broadcasts only the games of the annual 2018 Dota 2 International Championship, which is taking place these days in Vancouver.
The launch of its own streaming service will allow Valve to compete with the flagship of gaming broadcasts in the face of Twitch, which leads in the number of Dota 2 tournament viewers among all streaming platforms. Last year, 845 thousand people watched the final game of 2017 Dota 2 International on Twitch at the same time.
Valve reported that after the end of the Dota 2 competitions, it will be possible to broadcast all games from the Steam catalog through their service.
“In the future, we also intend to introduce a new streaming API in Steamworks for all Steam partners,” says Valve’s official blog.
Streams of esports competitions have become a new type of entertainment media that compete with the popularity of broadcasts of traditional sports. According to the analytical company Newzoo, in 2018 the global audience of viewers of esports streams will reach 380 million people.
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