YouTube enters the live-streaming fight (again)

The first time YouTube tried live-streaming, it failed. YouTube Gaming began in 2015, after Google tried and failed to buy Twitch, and as of this May the project was shuttered because it was confusing for users. “It was pretty bad. It could not have been worse, to be completely honest,” says the e-sports consultant and broadcaster Rod Breslau, when I reach him by phone. The failure knocked YouTube out of the race it had been in with Twitch to win the hearts and minds of the streaming class, and it kept the company from really developing a robust live-streaming community. Its death, however, was not the end.

In recent months, YouTube has been positioning itself for another run at the crown. Juiced by the impending arrival of Google...

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