YouTube Gaming Expands Reach Globally, Android And iOS Apps Updated With New Features

It has been just over six months since YouTube Gaming was launched, and now, the company has decided to take its Twitch competitor service to the next level (pun intended, of course). At the forefront, YouTube has opened up its app availability to gamers in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland, which YouTube says are homes to popular game content creators jacksepticeye, Vanoss, and TypicalGamer.

In addition to enhanced availability, YouTube has rolled out a number of changes to its app worth noting. With the Android version, live playback now has the option to stream at 60 FPS, and you can also now enable DVR mode. On the navigation front, YouTube has tweaked the interface to enable smarter homepage navigation (no more sidebars), improved management of your games and channels, and a new "Live" section that's just as it sounds: a hub to catch some live streaming.

As simple as a change as it might seem, Android users should be happy that they can now pop-out a video so that it plays overtop of other apps - pretty much like any other video app worth its weight in megabytes.

YouTube takes this opportunity to pat itself on the back for a handful of things it's pulled off since the release of its gaming-specific app last fall. For starters, the company enabled "mobile capture", which lets Android gamers stream their gameplay, and it's also rolled out Sponsorships, which lets you support your favorite streamers.

While there's no telling what will be next for YouTube Gaming, we do know that gaming videos and streaming is only getting more popular by the day, and we're in the middle of a battle of sorts as well, to see which streaming service most gamers are going to call home. Whether YouTube Gaming is now compelling enough, we're not sure, but it would certainly help to become a completely global solution supporting all regions and gamers from all walks of life.

Side note, if you haven't subscribe to the HotHardware YouTube channel yet, you should probably make it so.