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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesThe standalone YouTube Gaming app was retired in 2019, but gaming videos and live streams did not leave YouTube. The dates refer to separate steps: YouTube first announced a planned March 2019 retirement, then a May 2019 notice set May 30 as the end of app support.
When did the YouTube Gaming app shut down?
YouTube announced on September 18, 2018, that it planned to retire the standalone app in March 2019. A later TeamYouTube Help Community notice, posted May 13, 2019, gave a more detailed transition schedule and said support for the app and former service website would end May 30, 2019. That notice was published in Russian; its specific milestones are described here as a translated notice.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| June 12, 2015 | Google announced YouTube Gaming as a dedicated app and website for gaming videos, live streams and game-focused discovery. |
| September 18, 2018 | YouTube announced the planned March 2019 retirement of the standalone app and said it would focus gaming efforts on YouTube. |
| April 30, 2019 | The translated TeamYouTube notice said the app was removed from Google Play and Apple’s App Store. Existing installations continued to work temporarily. |
| May 14, 2019 | The notice said YouTube Gaming subscriptions would automatically appear in the regular YouTube subscriptions feed. |
| May 30, 2019 | The notice said support for the app and former service website would end. |
The original March date was YouTube’s announced plan; the May dates came in a later transition notice. They describe a schedule update, not the shutdown of gaming as a YouTube category.
Could you still watch gaming videos on YouTube?
Yes. YouTube retired the separate app, not gaming videos or streams on its main platform. In September 2018, it introduced a Gaming destination at youtube.com/gaming and said it was moving its gaming focus into the main YouTube experience.
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YouTube’s stated reason was reach: the company said its main platform reached more gamers than the standalone app. That was YouTube’s explanation for consolidating the experience, not an independently established measure of why viewers chose one destination over another.
What happened to YouTube Gaming subscriptions?
According to the May 2019 translated TeamYouTube notice, subscriptions from YouTube Gaming were to appear automatically in the subscriptions feed on the regular YouTube app and website starting May 14. The change moved subscriptions into YouTube’s standard feed rather than ending access to those channels.
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What was the YouTube Gaming app?
Google announced YouTube Gaming on June 12, 2015, as a dedicated destination for games, players, videos and live streams. The planned service included game pages, channel subscriptions, notifications, recommendations and live-broadcast tools. Google said it planned individual pages for more than 25,000 games. Its launch announcement said availability would begin in the United States and United Kingdom; it does not establish the full list of countries where the app later operated.
YouTube later characterized the dedicated gaming experience as a place to develop and try features. In its 2018 announcement, it said features including Game Pages, Super Chat and Channel Memberships had been brought into the main YouTube experience. It also cited Dark Theme and live-streaming features among ideas tested or developed through the gaming experience.
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What YouTube said about gaming audiences in 2018
To explain the consolidation, YouTube cited its own audience figures. In its September 18, 2018 announcement, the company said more than 200 million people watched gaming videos and streams on YouTube each day and that viewers had watched more than 50 billion hours of gaming content in the preceding 12 months. These are YouTube-reported figures from 2018, not current usage measurements.
Christina Chen, then YouTube’s director of product management, wrote that the company would retire the app and focus gaming efforts on YouTube “where we can reach our entire gaming community.” Ryan Wyatt, then YouTube’s director of gaming content and partnerships, told TechCrunch that most people watching gaming content were not using the standalone app for their gaming experiences.
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