Why Apply Twitch/Discord-like Audiovisuals To Gaming Platforms
How can game developers embrace and improve real-time communication features?
If you have ever known a gamer, you know gaming drives intense conversations, most of which are conducted via third-party social platforms like Discord and Twitch. But why isn’t this communication happening within the games themselves? Jim Wong, vice president of engineering at Aircore, explores why real-time communication features are not currently widely implemented in the game industry and how developers can change that.
It is difficult not to marvel at how far the video game industry has come since its inception. Although physicist William Higinbotham is credited with creating the world’s original video game (a primitive Pong precursor called “Tennis for Two”) in 1958, the first commercially available home console wouldn’t come to market until 1972. Since then, the industry has grown into a behemoth. Gaming is a pervasive part of our lives and has spread from consoles to smartphone apps, PCs, and more or less any device with a CPU.
Why Is In-game Communication Not Mainstream Yet?
One of the key reasons in-game communication has yet to be largely embraced by video game makers has to do with the fast-paced nature of the industry itself. Gaming is a $98 billion per year vertical, so developers’ primary focus is keeping up with demand and pushing that number’s trajectory upward. As such, developers often have neither the time nor the bandwidth to devote to things like deploying new in-game communication features because they’re preoccupied with what they consider to be more critical priorities, such as advancing storylines, creating more complex and engaging plots, improving graphics, and enhancing existing games via DLC.
Additionally, building out the global backend infrastructure necessary to accommodate the kind of audio/video communication features offered by platforms like Discord and Twitch represents a monumental investment, in terms of both time and money, on the part of video game companies.
For these reasons, many video game makers are resigned to the fact that their users will flock to external platforms to connect and converse. But it’s not impossible to bring in-game audio/video communication to video games; in fact, technology that has been around for over a decade can make it a reality in a matter of minutes: WebRTC.
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How Is the Evolution of WebRTC Driving Change?
WebRTC stands for Web real-time communication. First released all the way back in 2011, WebRTC is a widely available open-source technology that enables real-time communication between two internet browsers or applications, establishing a direct connection between devices without the need for routing through a centralized server.
It’s the tech that enables the low-latency real-time audio and video communication we’ve grown accustomed to in programs like Google Meet, Slack, and WhatsApp. And in real-time communication, low latency is the name of the game. In simpler terms, WebRTC is what makes it possible to engage in a video chat with someone on the other side of the planet–thousands of miles away–with minimal lag time. Supported by every major browser, including Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari, WebRTC is pretty much everywhere.
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Getting It Done
As noted previously, building the worldwide infrastructure necessary to allow for real-time in-game audio/video communication would be both costly and time-consuming for video game developers. Instead of devoting resources they may or may not have toward carrying out such a Herculean task, it makes sense, for gaming companies to consider partnering with businesses that have already done the heavy lifting: that is, organizations that have developed and built out the essential WebRTC-enabled infrastructure to accommodate real-time audio and video traffic at scale.
By leveraging the power of commercial pre-built Software Development Kits (SDKs) and UI components, developers can create bespoke in-game experiences where gamers can enjoy seamless audio and video chat capabilities without leaving the game. These SDKs require minimal knowledge about the details of real-time media on the part of the game developer and can be integrated in hours or even minutes.
As video game developers strive to keep up with the increasing demands on their time and attention, integration of real-time communications capabilities via easy-to-use SDKs allows them to keep users in their games rather than forcing them to switch away to applications like Twitch and Discord. When it comes to player interactions, the gameplay itself is only the beginning.
The conversation is key, and these conversations are more accessible, natural, and engaging within the game rather than on a third-party platform under someone else’s control. With only a few lines of code, game developers can transform their products into rich, vibrant communities where players can connect on a much deeper level – a level Mr. William Higinbotham would never have imagined in his wildest dreams.
What’s your take on improving in-game, real-time communication? Share with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you!
Image Source: Shutterstock
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