X is working on game streaming and live shopping features

Elon Musk is looking to new video features, including game streaming and live shopping, as part of his attempt to turn X into an everything app." The company formerly known as Twitter is experimenting with basic, Twitch-like game streaming capabilities, which are currently accessible to X Premium subscribers.

Musk showed off the feature Sunday night in a 54-minute Diablo IV stream posted from an anonymous Twitter account with the handle @cyb3rgam3r420. Musk later replied to the account and confirmed the company was testing the feature. An engineer at X, Mark Kalman, also shared a video explaining how Premium subscribers can set up game streaming from their accounts by connecting Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) to their Twitter account via X Media Studio.

Just a quick test of X video game streaming https://t.co/5NCsDczpT4

- Gamer (@cyb3rgam3r420) October 2, 2023

For now, it's unclear how serious X is about courting streamers.The feature seems to support viewer comments in the streams, but for now lacks most of the creator-centric features of other platforms. But it is one of the latest examples of how X is turning to creators and new video features in an effort to lure more users to the platform.Separately, the company also said it would begin experimenting with live shopping features through a new partnership with Paris Hilton. Variety reports that Hilton has signed on to create four original video content programs per year that include live-shopping features."

It's also unclear if X's infrastructure will be able to keep up with new live video features. The company, which shed many of its site reliability engineers in layoffs last year, has struggled with large live audio and video streams, particularly those boosted by Musk's account. When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appeared in a chat on Spaces in May to announce a presidential run with Musk, the stream repeatedly crashed.

According to Musk's biographer, Walter Isaacson, the issue was a result of instability caused by a poorly planned move of one of the company's data centers. However, the issues still don't seem to be fully resolved. Just last week, Musk attempted to live stream himself visiting the US border with Mexico when the video feed abruptly cut out after about four minutes. Musk was able to eventually restart the stream, but only after he sent a frantic, company-wide email to all of X's staff, according to New York Times reporter Ryan Mac. Please fix this," he said.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/x-is-working-on-game-streaming-and-live-shopping-features-203902095.html?src=rss