I can say with certainty that in the six years since we launched the PC Gaming Show, there has been no greater labour of love, source of stress, and point of pride on our team. It remains incredible to me that the event grew out of annual joke articles about what a PC press conference at E3 might look like. (My dream: Gabe Newell appearing from a trapdoor riding a unicorn—there's still time Gabe, call us.) Today, the show has become a fixture in the gaming calendar, able to stand alongside industry behemoths that have budgets big enough to buy the moon.
Last year an incredible 723,000 of you tuned in live—more than Nintendo and EA's E3 events. That's a testament to the power of the PC audience. We think it matters that PC gaming continues to have a singular, big moment where everyone comes together.
Which brings us neatly to 2020 and this Saturday's show. It's fair to say that producing this traditionally live E3 event during a pandemic has been a little different. We didn't want a year to pass without celebrating the cool things happening on PC though, so our brilliant hosts, Sean Plott and Frankie Ward, are returning with another (secret) presenter. We shifted to pre-recording in a fancy studio, which has allowed us to boost the production value of the show. I've seen some early cuts, and it's looking great.
Be part of the PC Gaming Show
In the absence of E3 itself this year, audiences need your help to know where to watch new, never-before-seen stuff. The PC Gaming Show is a chance to share two hours of exclusive material directly with your audience. We want to encourage those of you who stream, whatever the size of your channel, to host the show for your audience, with your commentary. Spreading the word using #pcgamingshow also helps this PC-focused event keep doing what it does.
(Article: How to Watch the PC Gaming Show)
How to co-stream
Whether you're streaming on Twitch or YouTube, setting up a co-stream begins the same way on the back end. Within the sources section of your streaming software, add a new Browser Source (OBS) or Webpage (XSplit), then enter https://www.twitch.tv/pcgamer to capture the show's Twitch feed or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jXwPnDpMD4 for the YouTube feed.
Note: If you're streaming from Twitch, be sure to add the "Co-stream" tag before going live.
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From there, you'll probably need to resize the new source window to make it fit snugly within your existing streaming layout. Be sure to balance your audio levels, too. And that's it! Enjoy the show.
More info, resources, and free stuff
We announced most (but not all) of the participants this week to give you a sense of what to look forward to, and to further get you in the mood we also released an album of classic game covers, which you can download for free. I'm biased, but the rock version of the Hearthstone theme is a killer. There's also a folder of logos and backgrounds which you have permission to use to promote this year's show on your channels and social media.
Final reminders…
Date
Saturday, 13 June, 2020
Start time
11 AM Pacific
2 PM Eastern
7 PM UK
(Find your local time here)
Run time
Two hours (approx)
Platforms
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
See you on Saturday, and thanks from us to you for helping make the PC Gaming Show happen again!
With over two decades covering videogames, Tim has been there from the beginning. In his case, that meant playing Elite in 'co-op' on a BBC Micro (one player uses the movement keys, the other shoots) until his parents finally caved and bought an Amstrad CPC 6128. These days, when not steering the good ship PC Gamer, Tim spends his time complaining that all Priest mains in Hearthstone are degenerates and raiding in Destiny 2. He's almost certainly doing one of these right now.