Patreon, the service that lets artists and creators provide exclusive content to subscribers, is launching a new tool that enables creators to livestream natively on the platform.

The company said the feature intends to let creators connect with their audiences in real time, whether it’s an author hosting a Q&A about a newly published book or musicians testing out new music for their fans.

The tool directly competes with similar offerings on platforms like Twitch, but a focus on creator-owned communities and fewer distractions.

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«Until now, creators have had to go live on platforms that weren’t designed to prioritize their businesses,» the company said in a statement. «We’re changing that: because it’s built directly within Patreon, creators won’t need to compete with crowded feeds, distracting ads, or anything else that gets in the way of connecting creators with their core fans.»

Some can access feature this week

Creators will be able to go live via the Patreon mobile app or desktop, with options for free or paid member access, allowing them to tailor streams for audience growth or earnings, according to the company.

The platform is also adding a live chat for real-time conversations, emoji reactions that appear over the video player and moderation tools that let creators set the tone for their communities. 

Creators will also have the option to share livestream recordings with fans who missed the event or download the videos for use on other platforms.

Patreon said some creators will receive early access to the feature as soon as this week with a wider rollout planned for later this summer.

Will Patreon creators use it?

 «It’s interesting, but I won’t be using this yet,» said Luke Westaway, content creator, Patreon user and former CNET senior editor. 

Westaway says he values consistency for his subscribers.

«I do weekly livestreams on YouTube just for Patrons which they access via an embedded player in a Patreon post, and in my experience Patreon subscribers value consistency and predictability in their content and I’m very cautious of anything that switches up how they access it,» he said. «That said, there are some features you just can’t do on YouTube, like the promised ability to sell streams after the fact as one-time VOD purchases, which could be cool.»

Westaway has an established account, but he acknowledges new users might feel differently.

«If I was just launching a Patreon today, I might be inclined to commit to it, but for now I think I just have to wait, watch and see if it works and if Patreon still seems committed to it in 12 months,» he said.

Following widespread outages for Spotify users on Wednesday, numerous users report that the online meeting service Zoom is also down. As of Wednesday midday Pacific time, Zoom’s website, support page and email client also weren’t available.

While these issues are currently preventing many Zoom users from making it to their meetings, it’s not clear what has gone wrong with the service or why it is so widespread. On Downdetector, complaint reports are highest for the website and app, followed by login attempts. 

Users from Michigan, California, Texas, Nevada and New Jersey have all commented online that they are unable to use Zoom at their locations.

When CNET reached out to Lacretia Nichols, product communications and content lead at Zoom, she responded, «Thanks for reaching out. We are aware that some users are experiencing an outage. We are investigating and will provide updates.»

We’ll also keep you updated here if we notice any significant changes. 

Star Wars has seemingly returned to Fortnite. Following weeks of rumors that the hugely popular battle royale shooter Fortnite would be doing an entire season of content themed around a galaxy far, far away, it may soon be official. 

On Wednesday, the official Fortnite account on X (formerly Twitter) revealed the game would be making a special announcement at the Star Wars Celebration in Japan on Saturday, April 19. While the Star Wars-centric season wasn’t confirmed in the post, it did tease «what’s coming next to Fortnite.»

There’s no specific time for when this Star Wars-Fortnite announcement will be made on Saturday, so if you’re interested in checking it out, stay tuned to the official Star Wars YouTube page, where all the Celebration livestreams are typically hosted.

Disney, LucasFilm and Fortnite creator Epic Games didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Is Fortnite Chapter 6, Season 3 based on Star Wars?

While this announcement seems to make things official, a Star Wars season of Fortnite has been rumored for a while now, based on claims from some of the game’s more trustworthy leakers. 

On March 26, FNBRIntel claimed on X that Chapter 6, Season 3 of Fortnite would be entirely Star Wars-centric and feature «New POIs based on the series, new mythics & skins, and the storyline should connect to it in some way.» Other leaked info claims this new content will be focused around the original trilogy of movies, so sorry to be the bearer of bad news for all the Clone Wars fanatics and Reylo stans out there.

If you’re not familiar with Fortnite, then try bonding with the 10-year-olds in you life a bit more, as they have much to share on the subject. But what you need to know most is that a typical «season» can last a few months. It might seem strange for a game like Fortnite, well-known for featuring almost every IP ever created, to focus on one property for that long, so leaks have also indicated that Chapter 6, Season 3 will only last for about a month, running from May 2 to June 8.

Disney, LucasFilm and Epic Games have a history of working together, with Star Wars content and characters prominently featured in the game throughout the years. Most notably — and befuddlingly — a major canon story development key to the 2019 movie, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, played out exclusively in Fortnite.

Are any other Star Wars games coming to Star Wars Celebration?

As the name makes clear, Star Wars Celebration is a celebration of all things Star Wars, so you can bet your bottom credits that there will be more video game news than just a Fortnite collaboration. Earlier this week, Electronic Arts announced that Star Wars: Zero Company, a new turn-based strategy game from Respawn Entertainment and Bit Reactor, would be shown off at Celebration on April 19. 

Respawn is the studio best known for creating the Titanfall shooter series and its battle royale spinoff, Apex Legends, as well as the acclaimed Star Wars: Jedi series. Bit Reactor is an upstart developer committed to strategy games featuring veteran talents that previously worked on the XCOM and Civilization franchises.