Google is finally allowing Stadia users to stream their game directly to YouTube starting today, as reported by The Verge. The capability was first spotted by 9to5Google, but it wasn"t immediately available for everyone. Now, though, a Google representative has confirmed that the capability will go live for all users starting today.
While it isn"t broadly available just yet, 9to5Google says that starting a YouTube streaming session prompts a few options, such as whether the stream is intended for children, privacy settings, voice settings, and whether the streamer wants to enable Crowd Choice. This feature lets viewers vote for certain things to happen in games, such as with Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle.
When Google first introduced Stadia, the integration with YouTube was a big selling point. Not only would streaming to YouTube be possible, viewers would have the option to jump right into a gameplay session with streamers in games that support it. It"s been over a year since Stadia launched, however, and those features were still not available. Streamers could only share their gameplay online using dedicated streaming software, which makes the capability less accessible to users.
With the launch of direct YouTube livestreaming, Google should be getting a little closer to enabling those features. A potential big advantage of this method is that the entire process is handled in the cloud, so streamers don"t need any special hardware for either playing or streaming games at higher quality settings.
Stadia expanded to eight more European countries just yesterday, so the new users trying the service for the first time will have access to the new capability early on. Stadia has taken some time to mature as a gaming platform, but these moves should help the service grow its audience.