How to Record Video Games on PC for YouTube
So, you want to be a YouTuber? It’s hardly surprising. YouTube has given people the world over the ability to share their hobbies and passions with the internet, and a relative handful of them have gone on to be huge stars who rake in a considerable amount of money.
The arguable king of the YouTube castle is Swedish content creator Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie. Kjellberg has yet to see his 30th birthday, but has over 65 million subscribers and a net worth of around $30-50 million. PewDiePie has often drawn media attention for his controversial views. Nonetheless, he has gained mainstream popularity creating video game-based uploads which show him (over)reacting to horror games or engaging in multiplayer contests.
Hopefully you won’t be inspired by Kjellberg’s less savoury character traits, but you may want to attempt to capture his lightning in a bottle with some video game content of your own. So-called “Let’s Play” video game content is some of the most popular on the YouTube platform, so it’s a great way to get your views heading in the right direction.
Let’s plays and reviews
This type of content pretty much does what it says on the box. The content creator shows footage of people playing a game from start to finish, all the while delivering their thoughts and commentary on the experience.
“Let’s Plays” are normally reserved for single player experiences, and are great for viewers who want to see what a game plays like before making a purchase decision.
News and views
These are videos where content creators report on the latest goings-on in the video game industry and deliver their opinions on the state of play. The recent Loot Box controversy helped provide great fodder for these creators, and YouTubers such as Jim Sterling and YongYea have seen great success with these types of videos.
Reaction videos
These are the sorts of videos which PewDiePie made a name for himself on. The content creator plays a game – usually one which is either very scary or has a high level of difficulty, or both – and films their reactions while they do so.
Obviously, the more the content creator overreacts to the game, the more entertaining the video is for the viewer, so you’ll often see over-the-top screaming, shouting and slapstick, such as falling out of a chair with supposed terror. Reaction videos can be quite cringeworthy, but they are very popular.
Competitive gaming
Some people like games not to experience a story or to prove their ability against AI powered enemies, but to compete against other humans in hardcore tests of reactions and skill.
Multiplayer games such as Call of Duty or Fortnight allow people to create content of themselves taking part in team contests or brutal last-man-standing deathmatches for the entertainment of their viewers.
Storytelling
Popular with fans of creative and social games such as Minecraft or Roblox, these videos will typically involve the content creator moving around a world of their own design to tell a story.
How to record video games on PC for YouTube
Whichever type of video game content you want to create, you’ll need a way to capture the footage of your game from your PC and turn it into an uploadable video in order to do so.
Bandicam
Bandicam is a lightweight screen recorder software for Windows that can capture anything on your PC screen as a high-quality video. This app also makes it possible to record a certain area on a PC screen, or capture a game that uses the DirectX/OpenGL/Vulkan graphics technologies.
Bandicam will help you carry out a screen capture with high compression ratio, while preserving the video quality of the original work, and provide performance far superior to other screen capture software that provides similar functions.
Bandicam is an easy-to-use free screen recording software that enables you to capture everything you want on your PC screen. Easily record your computer screen for video tutorials with Bandicam’s screen recorder functions, such as audio recording, webcam overlay, real-time drawing, scheduled recording, and 24-hour long-term recording.
Bandicam is a high-performance game recorder that records the latest high-resolution gameplays requiring up to 4K UHD, 480 FPS through hardware acceleration. Record your live gameplay and voice, and share and enjoy it with your friends on YouTube.
Bandicam allows you to record an external video device such as a webcam, Xbox/PlayStation, smartphone, IPTV, etc., in super high quality. You can also put your webcam/facecam on one corner of your video (Picture-in-Picture, Video-in-Video).
OBS Studio
OBS Studio is a free and open source program for livestreaming and video recording.
Create scenes with multiple types of video sources, including your computer display, video games, webcams, video files, and more.
Stream your video productions on sites like Twitch, YouTube, or Facebook live, or record your videos locally to share.
- Livestream video to sites like Twitch, YouTube, Facebook Live, and many more, including your own custom servers
- Record videos to save to your hard drive and share with friends
- High performance real time video/audio capturing and mixing. Create scenes made up of multiple sources including window captures, images, text, browser windows, webcams, capture cards and more
- Set up an unlimited number of scenes you can switch between seamlessly via custom transitions
- Intuitive audio mixer with per-source filters such as noise gate, noise suppression, and gain. Take full control with VST plugin support
- Powerful and easy to use configuration options. Add new Sources, duplicate existing ones, and adjust their properties effortlessly
- Streamlined Settings panel gives you access to a wide array of configuration options to tweak every aspect of your broadcast or recording
- Modular ‘Dock’ UI allows you to rearrange the layout exactly as you like. You can even pop out each individual Dock to its own window
- Choose from a number of different and customizable transitions for when you switch between your scenes or add your own stinger video files
- Set hotkeys for nearly every sort of action, such as switching between scenes, starting/stopping streams or recordings, muting audio sources, push to talk, and more
- Studio Mode lets you preview your scenes and sources before pushing them live. Adjust your scenes and sources or create new ones and ensure they’re perfect before your viewers ever see them
- Get a high level view of your production using the Multiview. Monitor 8 different scenes and easily cue or transition to any of them with merely a single or double click