It won’t be wrong if I compare gaming with drugs. Both are addictive and both give the feeling of high. I am not endorsing drugs though. Anyway, given the potential of gaming industry, major tech players have been trying to milk this market.
Take for example, American video-sharing platform YouTube’s standalone gaming app (and website) that was launched back in 2015. All these years YouTube Gaming app has been the place where the company tested new features based on the feedback given by the gaming community.
Some of the features that were given a thumbs up by the community, like Game Pages, Super Chat, Channel Memberships, Dark Theme and a live streaming platform were in fact integrated in YouTube to enhance user experience.
But last year, while launching a new YouTube Gaming destination at youtube.com/gaming, the company announced the shut down of YouTube Gaming app in March, 2019. Here’s what YouTube said while breaking the news:
We have a strong and vibrant audience on the YouTube Gaming app, but the amount of gamers we are able to reach is far bigger on YouTube. After all, YouTube is where more than 200 million gamers come to engage with your favorite games and creators every day, watching over 50 billion hours of gaming content in the last 12 months alone. That’s why, in March 2019, we’ll retire the YouTube Gaming app and focus all of our gaming efforts on YouTube where we can reach our entire gaming community.
While the standalone gaming app was to bid farewell back in March, looks like there was a slight delay is the plan. YouTube has now come up with a Reminder post sharing more information with users about when will the YouTube Gaming app and website be finally gone.
Going by the latest information, firstly, YouTube Gaming app was removed from both Google Play Store as well as Apple App Store on April 30. But those of you who already have the app installed on their Android/Apple phones can continue using it, at least for few more days.
The standalone YouTube Gaming app was removed from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. If you’ve already downloaded the app, you can continue to use it as normal, though we recommend exploring the new Gaming destination on YouTube if you haven’t already!
What about your subscriptions? Don’t worry. The company says that beginning today i.e. May 14, your subscriptions from the gaming app will be shifted to YouTube automatically.
Coming to how will you get to know about it, for all your moved subscriptions, you’ll be prompted a message in your Subscriptions tab (both on mobile and desktop) that will inform you about the change as well as give you a link to access the detailed information.
BTW in case you wish to update the channels that you’ve subscribed to in YouTube, Subscriptions Manager lets you do that.
As for when is the company going to pull the plug and shut down the app as well as the old website, May 30 will be the day. Afterward, app users will be redirected to the new Gaming destination and old website users to Gaming’s new home on YouTube.
The standalone YouTube Gaming app will be fully shut down and you’ll no longer be able to use the app. Instead, you’ll be directed to use the new Gaming destination on YouTube. The old website gaming.youtube.com will also shut down on this date, and any links will point to Gaming’s new home on YouTube.
Lastly, those of you who are channel members on the YouTube Gaming app, you are at the mercy of the concerned channels. If the channel decides to set up their membership on YouTube, your membership will be transferred automatically.
However, if the channel is not interested in setting up their membership on YouTube, in that case, your membership will be cancelled by YouTube and you’ll also be refunded your last month’s membership fee.
NOTE: Are you a Gaming Creator who previously had access to Channel Memberships in the Gaming app? If so, by now you must received an email regarding your eligibility on YouTube. Here’s more info on what you can offer to your members and how your viewers experience memberships.
P.S. For more YouTube related bugs/issues, news and stories, you may head here.
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Dr. Aparajita Sharma
1261 Posts
A budding entrepreneur by profession, and a psychologist by education. As a founding member of PiunikaWeb, I am nurturing this firstborn with my sharp-eyed expertise and even journalistic writing when needed.
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