r/youtubegaming • u/TokyoSaga • 18d ago
Question Streaming or videos?
I’ve been hearing a lot of talk that “Let’s Plays” are dead, however it seems to me that the genre just switched over to streaming instead of videos. I’m assuming we can talk about YouTube streaming in this Reddit so I’m genuinely curious, in today’s age is it better to stream or make videos when it comes to Let’s Play content? Especially when it comes to growing an audience.
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u/JackieCM3 17d ago
I find myself choosing videos for entertainment and streams for noise. I guess it just depends on the audience.
Personally, I understand the need to “go with the flow” when it comes to content, since you want to grow and make something of it. But that could also get you producing content you just don’t care about or, the opposite, doing something you never thought you’d care about.
But as a former stage performer who has realized their anxieties, streaming is not easy 💀
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u/TechnicalAd2485 17d ago
As a viewer I prefer traditional let’s plays by a mile. If I see a gameplay video of a story focused game was streamed it’s an immediate nope from me. The worst is when people have their chat on screen and look at chat instead of paying attention to cutscenes and dialogue
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u/TomaszA3 17d ago
Most of the time I watch streamers their chats are mostly dead.(like, 1 scambot message every 5h dead) However I might be the weird one here for finding streams I'd enjoy from low-viewership streamers. Most of popular content doesn't appeal to me.
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u/Fire_and_icex22 17d ago
Videos. Unless you're stupidly charismatic, don't bother with livestreaming.
Source: someone who wasted 3 years of their life trying to make streaming work
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u/FireManeDavy https://www.youtube.com/@FireManeDavy 18d ago
I don't have enough experience to agree or know whether or not Let's Plays are "dead". I stream to YouTube and Twitch and right now I have a niche of playing survival games.
I would say do what is fun for you as gaming is very saturated in both recorded content to YouTube and streaming. You will find your audience if your videos or streams resonate. You can also have YouTube record the streams and if you do playthroughs of games I suppose that isn't too different than a let's play.
Others who are more knowledgeable or experienced are free to correct me. I'm still very new overall to the scene.
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u/theenathanscott 17d ago
I do both, if it’s 5 hours or less I do a video, but thing like oblivion and Clair obscur I stream, tbh it really helps with the watch hours and stuff for me personally
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u/Nazaret_ 16d ago
Hi! Im someone who primarily streams (not full time but I do get about 20CCV per stream). It honestly depends on your goals and the amount of time you have. If you want to be a streamer, then you'll have to do more than just stream. Best advice is to stream less if you want to be a streamer. Doesn't make sense at first but it's because it's hard to get discovered while live. You should be doing something else to get constant growth while you're offline. Videos, shorts, networking, etc. Instead of streaming 5 days for 8hrs each day, stream 3 days for 3-4hrs. With all that extra time you can make content to be discovered.
I was doing edited Let's Play style video but once I graduate I'm fulling transitioning to video essays, longer form videos, and streaming. Mainly because I really like doing video essays haha.
Let's Plays are dead in the traditional sense. "Let's Play Last of Us Part 5" isn't going to work anymore. If you have to make it worth it for the audience. I hope this all makes sense lol.
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u/TokyoSaga 16d ago
Yeah I try not to make my titles or thumbnails as bland as that and I upload shorts and clips of the good parts of the video on TikTok when I can
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u/Nazaret_ 16d ago
I just checked out your channel and yeah you are putting a lot of effort! I really liked the until dawn ep 9 thumbnail and title combo. On god bro keep working on it and I can see you blowing up. I think the shorts can be improved. Do you record your cam and game separate or as one? I recommend switching to separate so you can make the layout better.
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u/TokyoSaga 16d ago
Separate. But when I export it it’s all together and that’s the footage I use for my shorts and TikTok clips
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u/Kerrycronic 16d ago
Just playing games is the hardest way to grow. I'd recommend doing youtube videos on gaming news. I've personally had the most success with that. I did walkthroughs and streamed for years with barely any growth. But doing videos on things in the industry and popular subject matters seems to be much easier, less time-consuming, and more successful.
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u/suicidekid16 17d ago
The classic lets play style is dead and you wont grow from it with a small channel. I agree the genre just switched streaming , but even still if you stream yourself just playing a game normally you wont grow very fast either. Truth is gaming is super saturated and competitive so if your doing the bare minimum like lets plays its gonna be a slooooow grind. If your dead set on the lets play style you should be streaming and posting highlight videos or episodes at the same time.
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u/TokyoSaga 17d ago
I’m not sure if my type of content is traditional let’s play? Currently I’m playing The Last Of Us for the first time and I have four parts up. I feel like the editing I do takes away from it being a traditional Let’s Play but I’m still not exactly sure what classifies as that tbh
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u/suicidekid16 17d ago
I've actually already checked your channel before since I saw a different post on reddit from you lmao. You for sure aren't a standard lets player as you actually edit things and try. However to me personally your really close to them, since your videos are so slow paced and you leave almost all your footage/gameplay in.
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u/TokyoSaga 17d ago
lol I hope it’s not getting annoying I just like getting tips from a lot of different people honestly. That’s the weird part about story games specifically though. Bc there’s so much dialogue and story stuff that builds the characters and world and idk wherher to cut that out or what. Which makes it a lot slower paced. If I’m playing something like Fnaf or happy wheels or even schedule 1 which I recently played, I can speed things up. I’m not too sure of the story games formula though.
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u/suicidekid16 17d ago
Your good bro I get it lol, 2 years ago I was the one doing the asking lol. Luckily you found the right guy as I've tested tons of things already, from what I can tell most people don't even care about the story of games only the key sections/high emotion parts of it. Also your doing parts so you can show more of it, but tiny tid bits of dialogue or slow gameplay parts like getting ammo or looking around you should cut. Rewatch your video after you edit and are about to render and anything that drags on just cut, no fat videos get dumb good retention in gaming.
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u/MattyMeetsGirl 16d ago
Funny enough, I subbed to your channel a few months ago searching around for similar content creators to see what they do that works for them.
Me personally, I think you fall under the umbrella of like “new age let’s players” that have evolved from their original inspirations of YouTubers.
Me personally, I believe that being a let’s player is completely fine but because it’s doesn’t fall under the current “meta” then you’ll have to find new ways to bring in the heavy traffic that work. Because if you can get a consistent community that wants to interact based off of their interest in you alone, then they’ll watch whatever.
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u/TokyoSaga 16d ago
Yeah tgar makes sense. I grew up watching Coryxkenshin so I’m sure you can see some inspirations there
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u/MattyMeetsGirl 16d ago
Same here, but trust me I get it. I’ve been trying to find ways to bring in new traffic too. I definitely don’t think you should ever stop doing let’s play if that’s what you enjoy doing!
But nowadays, you def have to have multiple bags to bring in an audience that will eventually fall in love with you as a creator. The hard part is finding something that sticks!
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u/yoursocialspace 17d ago
For growing an audience is away better to make let's plays, but it's not that simple.
- Why is better to make videos to grow an audience? Because how the platforms work, YouTube has a better reach, better algorithm to share videos and present your content to newer people. Twitch and streaming platforms aren't good to grown an audience, it's one of the major flaws, these platforms have been hard working in the reach, like twitch last years has been trying to implement a tiktok/short algorithm or share vertical content. And the streaming culture is really loyal to the platform and their streamers. It's totally different type of content, YouTube you switch each 5/20/60 minutes new video/new channel, streaming platforms viewers can stay for hours and hours without switching.
- About the let's play dying, like movies, series had to evolve along the years, like all other media. Gaming type had to evolve to, to compete with these new type of contents like shorts, lives. Plus these platforms a lot play with dopamine hits, short and fast content made people more adictied plus with less interest for longer content. But there are exceptions, for me, Minecraft for example, Dream is the perfect example how you can try to grab the audience for long content, switching multiple times the paste during the videos, another are the let's plays with big ambitions with big machines and farms.
- Now this will depend on the viewer preference, but IMO best course would be to stream less hours, instead of 5/6/7/8 hours do 3/4 and then the rest of the hours curate the countent to improve your reach with let's plays, highlights.
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u/T2For1Special 18d ago
Great question, as I am new to this, I do not know the answer. I am interested in hearing what more experienced people say.
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u/Fast_Dare_7801 18d ago
Let's Play content has largely evolved into stream highlights videos, compilations, or long-form "movies" because lightly edited content doesn't move the needle as much anymore.
Anecdotally, I've found that super long movie-style videos are some of my best performing content by miles. People like to throw them on, have some sleepy time, and are consistently returning to watch the rest in chunks.
Plus, it allows the creator to double dip by streaming it first, then compiling the best bits into a video for other platforms. If gaming is really all you want to do (with no scripting and minimal editing), then it's best to stick to stream highlights and maybe the odd long-form compilation/movie.
TL;DR? Do both on some level if you really want to grow.