Stream Your Game on Twitch: A How-To Guide

Looking for a creative way to start playing with other gamers? Maybe develop some marketing skills, and possibly even make a little extra money? Whether you’re a long-time gamer or a beginner, you might want to stream your gameplay on Twitch. Especially if you love a good challenge and aren’t camera shy.

We broke down the steps you need to take to broadcast your gameplay on Twitch. Read on for a full how-to on Twitch.

Creating a Twitch Account

Twitch is an Amazon-owned video-streaming platform that offers a fun, social way to watch other people play games. Through this platform, which has over 7 million creators and a viewership of over 30 million, gamers who broadcast their activity often provide commentary while playing their favorite games. The platform is free, and you do not have to pay to watch your favorite streamers or to stream your own channel. However, if you want to get custom emotes, access to chat features, and other cool perks, there is a monthly fee for each channel you want to subscribe (sub) to. If you have Amazon Prime you can link your account to your Twitch account for one free Twitch Prime Sub per month.

If you don’t already have an account, sign up on the Twitch website.

Go Live from PC or Mac

Once you have a Twitch account set up you can start live streaming from your favorite gaming platform, such as PC, Mac, Xbox, Playstation, or Nintendo Switch. You can even stream from your iPhone or Android device by downloading the Twitch app on your smartphone. Streaming from mobile can be a fun way to engage on Twitch’s popular "IRL" (In Real Life) category, which is full of people doing things like cooking, playing music, and just hanging out.

Assuming you’ll be doing most of your gaming from a laptop or gaming desktop PC, you're going to need the right streaming software to start broadcasting. Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) Studio is free and works for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. There are also paid options available, such as Ecamm Live for Mac. These software applications work great, but for a beginner it can be a bit complicated to get set up.

For those looking for an easier solution to get started, Twitch now has its own free Twitch Studio application. It's probably best to get started through Twitch Studio before deciding to download or spend money on installing a third party app.

Once you’ve installed the software on your PC or Mac, open Twitch Studio, log in, and follow the prompts and tutorial for connecting your microphone and webcam. There will also be prompts for selecting different scenes and other customizations. Within the application, you can select your personalized settings, such as on-air Twitch notifications and chat box features.

Equipment for the Best Twitch Stream

First things first—if you want to get serious about streaming, you’re going to need a good computer. Ideally, you want the viewing resolution to be 1080p, or 1920 x 1080, at a rate of 60 frames per second. Twitch recommends having at least an Intel Core i5-4670 processor (or its AMD equivalent), 8GB of RAM and Windows 7 or newer. Having 16 GB of system memory will give you the space you need as well as some breathing room. Anything over that is great but not necessary.

When playing your favorite game, such as Fortnite, the graphics card (GPU) in your computer is working hard while rendering. You’ll want to make sure you pick a GPU capable of handling all the demands. There are plenty of good GPU options out there, so it will be easy to find a card to suit your needs regardless of your budget. If you want to go all out, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is ranked at the top in terms of performance-to-price value, and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is a close second.

If you’ll be going live from a laptop instead of a gaming desktop, keep in mind that the components are all positioned much closer together than they would be on a desktop. You may experience overheating, so to avoid this, make sure you close down your background applications while gaming and live streaming.

In order to share video and audio with your viewers, you’re going to need a webcam and microphone. There are so many mic and webcam options out there, but if you need some help, this article reviews the top 10 webcams for Twitch streaming in 2022. A gaming headset should work just fine for this as well.

Most importantly, you’ll need a good Internet connection, ideally with an upload speed of at least 100 Mbps. Check out this article on the best WiFi for home based on Internet usage to learn more about what type of WiFi connection you’ll need for gaming and streaming live.

Ready to get set up with the Internet you need to start gaming and streaming on Twitch? Let SmartMove help you find the high speed Internet you need to start streaming today.