The live-streaming industry may have started with Twitch, but the social gaming giant then spawned a behemoth that includes a vast range of other providers. The live-streaming sites that cropped up in Twitch’s wake offer a diverse range of experiences and possibilities for players, with there now being something out there to suit everyone’s needs. Live casino games have been around for almost as long as Twitch, and new sites like Caffeine and Owncast are helping the live-streaming industry grow as well.

Caption: A video about whether Twitch or YouTube is better for streaming.

Live Casino

When Twitch was shooting up to worldwide fame in the early 2010s, online casino developers were also working on ways to integrate live streaming. The idea of the industry has always been to offer a real-world gambling experience to players in their own homes, and live streaming helped sites achieve this aim. Now, when players log on to play games like live baccarat, they come face-to-face with real-world dealers. They can look at the thumbnails of the different variants like Speed Baccarat and Baccarat Squeeze and choose which croupier they want to play with. This is arguably a superior way to play than in a land-based casino, as the games are accompanied by loads of useful instructions about how to play and what the rules of the game are.

In the beginning, live casino developers were mainly focused on adapting classic casino games like baccarat, blackjack, and roulette. When it became clear that players wanted more content in this format, studios got innovative and started to create newfangled versions of the games that were specifically designed for live streaming. This brought about variants such as Lightning Roulette, which introduced random multipliers on the wheel. There’s even an Age of the Gods Roulette game now, which is set in an ancient Greek-themed studio.

There are also new games that have emerged to attract wider audiences to the live-streaming section of online casinos. They are designed to appeal to people who aren’t interested in traditional casino games and are looking for a unique experience. Games like Funky Time and Crazy Time use a spinning lucky wheel format. There are other titles based on popular board games as well, such as Snakes & Ladders Live and Monopoly Big Baller. There are also live slot games like Safari Riches Live Slot. There’s now something to suit everyone’s interests at live casinos.

The beauty of using live streaming for all these games is that it puts players right at the heart of the action. They get the true sense that everything is happening here and now, which adds to the unexpected nature of the outcome of the games. Casinos are pumping more investment than ever into live-streaming development, so this is a category that looks set to blow up even more in the future.

Caffeine

When Facebook Live brought live streaming slap bang into the mainstream, new services cropped up. There are many offerings that are lesser known than the big guns, but some of them deserve attention as they provide an original product that can’t be found elsewhere. Caffeine is a prime example of a platform that should arguably be bigger than it currently is.

Caffeine emerged in 2018, but over the course of its history its founders Ben Keighran and Sam Roberts have constantly been looking for investment from wealthy partners. The company has garnered more than $146 million in support from huge brands including 21st Century Fox, Andreessen Horowitz, and Greylock Partners. These deals helped the service gain widespread attention, and it earned the opportunity to host pre-match celebrations alongside celebrities prior to Super Bowl 2020.

Caffeine’s live-streaming service is clearly inspired by Twitch and online casinos, but it has brought its own originality to the live-streaming sphere as well. Along with offering gaming streaming, it provides sports and entertainment. This allows it to straddle three key entertainment interests and appeal to a broader audience. As is crucial for live-streaming businesses, social interaction is at the heart of the service and users have the chance to participate in chats and discussions.

Owncast

For people in search of a live-streaming service that’s pushing the limits of the technology, Owncast could be one of the best new offerings out there. It puts users in complete control of the app, which people can run with their own hardware. They can control the content, interface, audience, and much more.

Caption: A video about Owncast.

It’s obvious that Owncast drew a lot of inspiration from the big guns like Twitch and YouTube Live, but it does come with numerous advantages over these mainstream services that will appeal to a lot of users. One of the biggest benefits of Owncast is the fact that you have complete ownership of your own content. Users’ data isn’t sold to advertisers, and you can’t be banned or demonetized by the platform. This is different from mainstream services, where some users have found themselves stripped of their accounts and banned in the past.

Owncast is also decentralized, meaning that it isn’t controlled by a single company. This is a concept that will grow in popularity with the emergence of Web3, which means that Owncast could be a step ahead of some of its rivals. The fact that it’s decentralized means that there’s no single company in control and that videos are much more difficult to take down. In addition to these great aspects, the site is also highly customizable. That means that users can change the look and feel of the stream to suit their own tastes, and everyone can have a bespoke experience on the site.

It’s clear now that there’s less need to stick to the mainstream options like Twitch and YouTube Live for a great live-streaming experience. The industry is continuing to expand, and this is bringing about great innovation on all fronts.