A Little Background
Ask yourself - what’s the number one destination for gaming content?
You might think Twitch or TikTok, but year after year, YouTube is where gamers spend the most time watching and creating, with over 200 million people watching gaming content on YouTube daily
There’s almost no limit to the kind of content people are watching and making, with everything from in-game clips, to game-inspired music videos, fan-lead storytelling and custom animation - and the communities built around this content all bring their passion, desires and wants to YouTube.
But here’s the challenge - we wanted to engage an already hyper-connected audience for whom authenticity is key. There’s a long history of gamers tearing brands and other creators apart for not sticking the landing, and we knew there was a risk we’d be next - or risk a repeat of some past…mistakes.
So, how do you celebrate the creators that power YouTube, empower an incredible community, and create a truly one-of-a-kind experience - that reminds them that YouTube is the greatest home of gaming?
Our Solution
Introducing YouTube: Game On, a one-of-a-kind collaboration between leading creators, the most popular games and the gamers that make YouTube great - livestreamed and interactive for nearly two hours.
To answer that authenticity challenge, we developed GameOn with the people who know these communities best - creators and game studios.
We partnered with creators like Bella Poarch, Shutter Authority, Muselk, MatPat, Jake Fellman, not just to host the livestream, but to ideate and develop the content from start to finish.
Similarly, by leaning on the studios behind games like Fortnite, Among Us and Minecraft we created an experience that rang true with the biggest fans in YouTube’s gaming community - and avoided a Hello, Fellow Kids moment.
Building The Experience
GameOn had a high bar to leap over. Gaming creators make thousands of hours of exceptional content every day - both live streamed and not. We wanted to create something that recognised this high bar and added to it, showing that we really got it.
To do this, we used blended production techniques, mixing real life with virtual production facilitated by Unreal to create stunning video for each of the live-streamed segments. Not only did this path allow us to elevate the content gamers are used to, but by using Unreal, we were able to make our live stream meet and beat the in-game experience gamers are used to.
For a quick run through how we did it in less than 90 seconds, you can watch the video below.
Now, we wanted it to look good - but we also wanted it to be a great experience for everyone watching. That’s why we worked to match incredible content with true interactivity.
From a content perspective, we collaborated with creators and studios to make each segment special. Building on the top games and trends of 2022, we worked to match the variety gamers are used to - from Bella Poarch hosting a Mortal Kombat tournament, to IRL Among Us, a real bomb squad defusing virtual bombs in Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, and crafting a competitive Hot Ones challenge (amongst many more).
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Markiplier
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Mat Pat
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Dream
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Sidemen
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Aychristene
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Bella Poarch
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Felipe Neto
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Myth
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LD shadow Lady + Markiplier + Doigby + Mat Pat + Dream + laurenzside + Sidemen + Aychristene + Bella Poarch + Felipe Neto + Myth +
This was paired with continuous interactivity throughout the livestream - including polls to vote on your preferred winner, choose your own adventure moments to determine the outcome of segments and general chat and banter from the viewers that was amplified in the stream in real time.
