Twitch announced that it’s introducing new Software & Game Development streaming category to improve the discoverability of content for devs.
“Over the past year, thousands of Twitch viewers and creators have requested a new streaming category for content related to programming and all aspects of game development,” the streaming platform said.
Twitch noted that while “this new category offers an improved focus on development,” there are some additional stream tags that creators can use to “to classify their content further,” which will allow viewers to narrow their search.
Actually, Twitch had Game Development as a separate category for about two weeks after it was singled out from the previously existing Creative category. At the time, “we were averaging 7.1 new followers per hour under Game Development,” indie developer Pirate Software wrote on Twitter. Game Development, however, was quickly made part of the larger Science & Technology category, severing the former’s discoverability.
Image Credit: Pirate Software
Back in February, the developer lamented that “If you search Game Development on Twitch right now the category doesn’t show up, neither do streams with the tag of Game Development, in fact… nothing shows up.” This compounds the discoverability issue and makes the category even worse for developers,” Pirate Software added. “We need Game Development back. It’s a simple change but it can help build a lot of new communities on Twitch. It can also make more money for indie devs and Twitch at the same time.”
So, in a way, the category has returned, rather than newly arrived. This happened after around 5k devs voted for the separation of Game Development and Programming from Science & Technology. “Holy hot damn we won. Thank you, Twitch, for making a Game Development category for all of us,” Pirate Software commented. “We pushed so hard and for so long to get this.“