Twitch is making it much easier to catch up on chat

Twitch is rolling out a new chat history feature that should make it a lot easier to catch up on what’s been going on in a streamer’s chat.

When you jump into a stream, you’ll be able to see either the last 50 messages or the last hour of what’s been said in chat, depending on which option has fewer messages. That may sound like a potentially large gulf between options, but I think it serves both large and small streams well.

For many larger streams, chat flies at a mile a minute, with discussions happening and changing at a rapid rate. Fifty messages is probably enough to get you up to speed ahead of chat moving on to something else. Smaller streams may have just a few dedicated chatters that may not post enough to hit that 50-message threshold, so being able to see the previous hour of messages lets you catch up with what’s likely been a more focused set of conversations.

Chat history is rolling out starting Monday, according to Twitch, and the rollout will happen “over the next few days.” I don’t have it yet, but I’m looking forward to getting it.