Stadia mainstreams game streams with direct to Youtube broadcasts

Stadia’s long-awaited direct to Youtube game streaming feature is beginning to roll out now and no, I couldn’t help myself with the title of this article. A normal streaming setup requires a broadcasting software like OBS and can be complicated to set up and manage for the average Joe (sorry, Joe, nothing personal).

Google is known for taking standardized and culturally accepted data storage and usage methods of decades past and flipping them on their head. By applying their machine learning and artificial intelligence superpowers where there’s a need, they’ve simplified photo management among many other things for the masses.

Now, they’re applying that same philosophy to the cultural phenomenon of game streaming. In all honesty, this is kind of a huge deal. Because of its ease of use and accessibility, it opens up the possibility for pretty much anyone to participate with just a few clicks – even you! The launch of direct game streaming comes in the wake of Youtube amassing more than 100 billion gaming hours across 40 million gaming-oriented channels. Youtube Gaming may no longer be a standalone service (Rest in pieces), but it’s far from dead.

In order to launch your own broadcast, you’ll need to start a game and then enter your Stadia menu with the controller’s Stadia button or Shift + Tab on your keyboard. Click on your friend’s list and then on ‘Live stream’. After linking your Youtube account, you’ll set up the title and privacy options for your stream. Once you’re all done, you’ll see a red ‘Live’ banner. You’re also given a direct link to the broadcast right in your Stadia dashboard, just in case you want to visit it to make sure it’s in working order while you play or if you want to manage comments or share it with your friends. If the live streaming feature is greyed out on your Stadia dashboard, you may just need to sit tight and wait for Google to roll it out on their end.

As of writing this, my live stream test does not show on the videos tab of my Youtube channel but does show up in Youtube Studio, sort of. I’m unsure of whether or not Google is making these live streams as ‘unlisted’ so that they don’t clutter your profile, but if so, that’s pretty clever and I welcome it! If you’re interested in watching some Stadia gameplay every now and then, I have almost a hundred games in my library thanks to Google’s generous habits and will be taking advantage of the new live streaming feature in my downtime. I’ll be sure to figure something out here in the near future, so stay tuned!