Treyarch’s Innovative New Live Streaming Functionality Marks Historic First for Video Games
New Pillar for eSports Competition Elevates Gameplay to a Sporting Event
Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), today announced that Call of Duty: Black Ops II‘s new live streaming feature, available when the game launches on November 13th, will let players live stream gameplay on YouTube directly from the Xbox 360® and PlayStation®3 game consoles. The first of its kind innovation coming from Activision and the game’s developer, award-winning studio Treyarch, will allow players to live stream Call of Duty: Black Ops II multiplayerLeague Play games, as well as the player’s webcam and audio commentary while playing.
Call of Duty Elite takes the live streaming experience even further, letting viewers on Elite see the player card of the user that is streaming. With just a couple clicks, viewers can dig deeper to see such information as class loadouts, recent match data, as well as career stats across supported Call of Duty® games on Elite.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II player live streams will be viewable on YouTube via web browsers, mobile and tablets through Call of Duty Elite as well as individual YouTube user channels.
“From the beginning of development with Call of Duty: Black Ops II, the team has been pushing boundaries on every front to offer Call of Duty fans things that they haven’t been able to do before,” said Mark Lamia, studio head of Treyarch. “With our competitive play and eSports initiatives, we wanted to deliver live streaming capabilities built right into Call of Duty: Black Ops II, because Call of Duty is not only fun and exciting to play, but we believe it will be just as exciting to watch. By making the capability of live streaming as accessible as possible to our fans, straight from a player’s console without the need for any additional hardware or sophisticated setups, we are empowering our fans to share their multiplayer experiences.”
“Our partners are using YouTube Live to bring entertainment, must-see moments and more to millions of people around the world. With Call of Duty: Black Ops II, people can live stream their gameplay directly from the game or watch the best players live on YouTube, which is an awesome next step for the eSports community,” said Sang Kim, Head of Game Partnerships.
A verified YouTube account is required to live stream. A valid Call of Duty Elite registration is necessary to view the streams and related information inside Call of Duty Elite. Call of Duty: Black Ops II player live streams will be subject to limitations and restrictions. Additional Call of Duty: Black Ops II live stream destinations will be announced in the future.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II launches worldwide on November 13, 2012, on the Xbox® 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, and Windows PC. The title is also expected to be released in North America on November18, 2012, for the new Wii U™ game system from Nintendo. Call of Duty: Black Ops II is rated “M” (Mature — Blood and Gore, Intense Violence Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs — content suitable for persons ages 18 and older) by the ESRB. More information on Call of Duty: Black Ops II can be found at http://www.callofduty.com/blackops2 or on www.facebook.com/codblackops. Fans can also follow @Treyarch on Twitter.
