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Streaming games has always required a PC, but not anymore. Mobile videogame streamer Kamcord announced today that it will allow users to stream games directly from Android smartphones.
The service, which already has about two million users, has gained a reputation as being the ‘Twitch-of-mobile’ –in reference to the popular videogame streamer owned by Amazon — thanks to its legions of streamers playing popular titles like Clash of Clans and Boom Beach.
While the technology to stream games from mobiles has existed for some time, prospective streamers would have to connect their phones to a PC and stream it from there. This marks the first time gamers can stream directly from their phones without the need for a PC, allowing for streaming on the go.
Kamcord’s streaming overlay can be used with any smartphone game and includes social features similar in nature to that of Twitch. According to the company, some of the most popular streams get over one hundred thousand views.
There is one major caveat though, admits Kamcord’s co-founder Aditya Rathnam — the ability to broadcast directly from mobile is currently available only to Android users.
“This is not possible on Apple devices because iOS does not have screen capture [application program interfaces],” Rathnam says. “If iOS offered screen capture APIs, we’ll built an app for it within two weeks!”
Users of iOS, for now, will have to connect to a PC to stream. Those more inclined to viewing, though, will be able to do so through Apple TV.
The explosion in popularity of eSports, which Superdata says now has a viewer base of over 130 million, has led to numerous widely used streaming services, such as YouTube Gaming. Though Kamcord is a leader for mobile games, Twitch, which was bought by Amazon for $970 million, is the overall industry leader.
