SAN BRUNO (KRON/AP) — YouTube is hoping to become a big presence in the gaming world.
The San Bruno-based online video service announced plans on Friday to launch a separate app and site specifically for fans of video games.
The company says YouTube Gaming will feature pages dedicated to more than 25,000 games.
The site will also seek to make it easier for users to broadcast live gameplay to YouTube by eliminating the need to schedule a live broadcast and creating singular links that can be shared.
YouTube Gaming is scheduled to debut this summer in the U.S. and U.K.
The move by Google-owned YouTube takes direct aim at Twitch. The gaming-centric video site was acquired by Amazon last year for nearly $1 billion and now boasts 100 million users who watch 1.5 million broadcasters a month.