YouTube Gaming finally adding gifted subs & raids as Twitch streamers move platforms

YouTube Gaming has revealed that they’re bringing a whole host of new features to their streaming service in 2022, and there are quite a few Twitch-inspired changes coming. 

For years, Twitch has comfortably cemented its place as the top dog when it comes to the internet’s favorite gaming streaming site. Though, there have been a few contenders making waves recently.

Over the last few years, YouTube Gaming has been snapping up some of Twitch’s most popular creators – including getting both TimTheTatMan and DrLupo in the back half of 2021.

With more streamers making the leap from Twitch to YouTube, there have been increased calls for more Twitch-like features, including better chat moderation tools, the ability to ‘raid’ another channel, and implementation of third-party emotes like BTTV and FrankerZ. Well, it appears YouTube has heard those calls as they’re finally making some big changes.

On October 29, YouTube Gaming Ryan ‘Fwiz’ Wyatt detailed some of the platform’s plans for 2022, noting that they’ve been working hand-in-hand with the likes of Valkyrae and CouRage on some of the changes.

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Two of the biggest changes that will be instantly recognizable to any long-time Twitch users are Gifted Memberships and Live Redirect for Gaming. The former is self-explanatory – YouTube Members will now be able to gift streaming subscriptions to others, while the latter is akin to Twitch’s raid feature.

The improvement to discoverability has been a big want for some newer YouTube streamers, noting how difficult it can be to explore the platform when compared to Twitch’s directory.

https://twitter.com/fwiz/status/1454078781006618628?s=21

The platform also noted that they’ll be adding new moderation tools for streams as well as expanding the recently introduced Clips tool so that they can seamlessly become YouTube Shorts – which is YouTube’s answer for TikTok.

It remains to be seen as to when exactly these features start rolling out but their additions may encourage other burgeoning streamers to join the YouTube scene.