Today Microsoft announced its plans to acquire a fairly young live streaming service called Beam. Beam is a Seattle-based company started by a young man named Matt Salsamendi that allows streamers and viewers to interact in a wide variety of ways. Beam sets itself apart from other services like Twitch and YouTube in a number of ways. Most importantly, in my opinion, Beam technology reduces the delay between a streamer’s gameplay and the actual stream seen by viewers. It’s a sub-second delay, meaning viewers are practically watching the gameplay in real time, whereas on Twitch you experience a 10-15 second delay. Users on Beam also have more potential influence over what happens in-game. Viewers participating in a Minecraft stream, for example, could set certain challenges for the player and dictate what kind of equipment they’ll have to use.
Beam launched in January, and has since grown to around 100,000 users. Salsamendi wanted to let existing users know that just because Beam is being acquired by Microsoft, it doesn’t mean that Beam services will be restricted to Microsoft platforms only. On the contrary, the service will be able to expand more than ever. He states that with this deal they’re “…expanding the team, bolstering our infrastructure, and most importantly, continuing to grow and support the amazing community at Beam.” You can learn more about Beam as Matt Salsamendi chats with Xbox Live’s Major Nelson in the video below:
Source: The Verge