Twitch Guest Star is designed with Just Chatting in mind

Guest Star, which will be testing a few ad banners this summer before the official launch in the fall, will allow operators to seamlessly pull guests from their audiences and give them full audio and video processing on their broadcasts. Broadcasters will be able to connect the feature to software they already use like Open Broadcaster Software (OBS), and the windows you create can be combined with custom and branding overlays.

Streamers currently achieve a similar effect using third-party services like the chat app Discord, but Twitch’s goal is to reduce friction and give banners the ability to screen potential guests by displaying how long a person’s Twitch account has been, whether they check their account with their phones and their account status in general.

“When speaking to creators, a number of them told us that they shy away from creativity [talk show-like content] Because they’re worried about bringing something or someone on stream that isn’t appropriate for their community,” Twitch Vice President Jeremy Forrester told The Washington Post.

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In the past, Twitch has launched several features that make it easy to watch players play games together, but this is the first time that Just Chatting has taken center stage. Twitch officially created the category – which was originally intended for live stream creators to talk to their viewers – in 2018. But in the years since, it has grown into a repository of a huge variety of unknown activities including regular talk shows, Controversial trends And the IRL Contests You won’t feel out of place on TV (nor Actual TV). Recently, Just Chatting has proven almost unshakable as the number one category on the video game platform just once, with Twitch noting that since 2020, hours watched in this category have gone up 151 percent, and Just Chatting creator revenue has grown by 169 percent.

Twitch’s decision to create and launch a Guest Star is an acknowledgment of that trend.

“Chat streams are only different from video game streams and rely a lot on engagement and interaction with communities,” Forrester said. “For this reason, we formed a group last year to look specifically at the features and tools we can build for Just Chatting creators to make it easier to interact with their community and the content they produce.”

He added that this is only the beginning in terms of Just Chatting’s specific features. However, Twitch doesn’t plan to leave video game-focused creators — platform bread and butter overall — still out in the cold. Forrester also doesn’t think the distinction between game creators and Just Chatting creators is as meaningful as some might think.

“It is important to remember that game creators also produce Just Chatting content on a regular basis,” he said. “All the features we are investigating are centered on [on] Making it easier for content creators to interact, interact and solicit input from their community, we believe both game creators and Just Chat creators will benefit from it.”