When Call of Duty: Black Ops II arrives on Nov. 13, developer Treyarch and publisher Activision will be giving console owners the ability to stream gameplay directly to the internet from in-game.
Activision announced Thursday the live streaming was possible thanks to a partnership with YouTube, which lets both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners post footage without any additional video capture hardware.
In fact, all any player needs is a valid YouTube account to tie his or her gamer profile to before streaming.
"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 YouTube's Sang Kim, head of game partnerships.
Live from the living room
Activision boasted this is the first time such an innovation has been possible with consoles, and acknowledged that the service will offer more than just video streams.
League Play games in Black Ops II can also stream, as will users' webcam and audio commentary on the match.
In addition, anyone watching the stream can see a player's online information, as well as class loadouts, recent match data and career stats as tabulated by Call of Duty Elite.
"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," said Mark Lamia, studio head at Treyarch.
"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."
Fans will be able to view the streams on YouTube and through Call of Duty Elite, though the latter requires full registration to view individual player stats.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II will also come to the PC and the Wii U (Nov. 18 for the U), though it's unclear if either of those versions of the game will offer the same streaming support.
