We seem to watch games as much as we play them now, so Imgur decided to embrace the gaming audience and offer them a new app to discuss and watch games.

As TechCrunch reports, the new app is called Melee, and it's already available to download and start using from the App Store. Imgur describes it as a way to "Stay up-to-date on the latest reviews, videos, and trending memes in the world of gaming while discovering new games to play and new gamers to follow."

Melee attempts to gamify the ecosystem that surrounds games. XP can be awarded to content, which allows it to "level up" and potentially enter the Trending stream. If something is trending, everyone who uses Melee will see it, but at the same time you can choose to limit your content to the specific games you are interested in, and the gamers who play them.

Imgur is clearly attempting to create a space for itself in the crowded game-viewing/streaming market and makes a point of saying Melee doesn't require Twitch or Mixer to work. You can upload your own gameplay videos and images, and users are encouraged to share their own links and have "text-based discussions" in the app.

Imgur founder and CEO Alan Schaaf explains, "Gamers are constantly taking recordings and screenshots of the games they're playing ... But we found that there's no place for gamers to share those clips. We want to give these highlights a home. Imgur is interested in building things that the Internet wants."

We can expect to see the Android version of Melee launch in the first quarter of 2020. Those who prefer to consumer their gaming content on PCs will be glad to hear Imgur is going to launch a version for desktop, too, but it isn't saying when yet beyond "eventually."

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