Google Officially Pulling Plug on YouTube Gaming App After 4 Years

The app will shut down this week.

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After four years of confusing/being ignored by gamers, Google is officially set to pull the plug on the YouTube Gaming app. This move was actually announced last year in a statement where YouTube admitted the app caused "brand confusion," but the end is set to become official on Thursday, May 30. Instead the service has been integrated onto YouTube's main site, where it sits in a tab on the left side of the homepage, under "YouTube Premium" and "Movies and Shows."

So, if you actually did use YouTube Gaming, you'll now be directed to the new platform instead. The Verge adds that the company has also merged YouTube and YouTube Gaming subscriptions, though previous users of the site appear to have lost the list of games they'd saved.

YouTube Gaming was originally launched in 2015 and was marketed as a more efficient way to experience livestreaming, while allowing you to sift through crappy/non-gaming-related content. Unfortunately for the idealists who really believed in it and its purpose, most people just watched gaming videos on the main site anyway.

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