Rumors of YouTube’s purchase of Twitch.tv continues to be big news, but it isn’t the video streaming giant’s only forray into gaming. Kabam’s newest game, Blades of Excalibur is making its debut in demo form on YouTube itself.
The game is embedded into Kabam’s YouTube channel, and is played with keyboard controls. Kabam is known for its free to play games available on Facebook, iOS and Android devices. Blades of Excalibur is a simple Streets of Rage style beat-em-up. In this pre-release demo, players control one of two characters and move from left to right, clearing enemies as they go. There is also an “Arena” mode that allows for 1v1 battles.
According to various media outlets, a deal was made between Kabam and YouTube to make Blades of Excalibur YouTube’s first embedded game, but it is unclear if any money exchanged hands.
Blades of Excalibur is known as Three Kingdoms Action in China where it generated over $100 million in revenue. That game was set in feudal China, but its western release is seeing a change of setting, bringing the action to Medieval Europe and focusing on King Arthur, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table.
The full version of the game will include more features, including cooperative and PvP multiplayer.
Regardless of the game’s quality (I found it to be too much of a button masher) this is more significant that just the game itself. Social media gaming has been done in the past, a few have even had some success, but no one with the bankroll and user base of YouTube. This, along with the rumored Twitch purchase, could be a game changer.
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