GTA 6 is fast approaching, but a PC release is still nowhere in sight. For many content creators who only play and share gameplay from a PC, that means a heavy adjustment to their setup if they want to create content around Rockstar's heavily anticipated title. It seems like Elgato and Twitch are all too aware of this, because the two brands have made a bundle that makes new console-tilted gear for live streamers a bit more accessible.
Twitch and Elgato (owned by Corsair) have announced the Elgato X Twitch Streaming Kit, a bundle of an up-to-date capture card, PS5 SSD, and a 10% discount for active Twitch partners and affiliates.
“Twitch is where so many gaming moments become shared experiences,” said Taylor Ward, Senior Director of Ecosystem at Elgato.
“Our role is to make the step between playing on console and creating live content as simple as possible. By working with Twitch to put capture tools and guidance directly in front of creators, we can remove some of that friction and help more people go live when the moment matters.”
Unfortunately, I'm not sure execution of this new bundle has been all that helpful - even for the wealthiest full-time content creators. The only capture card included in the bundle is the (flagship) Elgato Game Capture 4K X, and the only SSD in the bundle is the Corsair MP600 Elite (Corsair's flagship storage device for the PS5).
Fair enough if you're a pro level content creator with plenty of money to spend on this sort of thing, and fair enough if you want to spare no expense to get the best spec of capture card available. For most content creators though, I just don't think this sort of expense is going to be necessary, so read on to see what more affordable options exist, and why I'd recommend them.
In times like these for SSD prices, that means a 1TB SSD along with the capture card brings the price up to $554.98 at Corsair. The Capture card alone will set you back $249.99. For Twitch affiliates and partners with a 10% discount, the price comes down to $499.99. If you opt for a 2TB SSD, the price is a ludicrous $694.98 for us normies, and $625 for Twitch folk.
With early Black Friday PS5 deals already starting to pick up, I think you can do a lot better.
If you actually need one of the fastest and best all-round PS5 SSDs, and you want one of the best capture cards that can capture and passthrough 4K 144 frames per second then go for it - but I really don't think that's necessary for anyone just buying this stuff for GTA 6. Case in point, the game will only run at 30fps, regardless of the platform you're playing on, and broadcasting in 4K60 is still the limit for streaming on Twitch and YouTube.
On a similar note, GTA 6's install size is monstrous, but let's assume for a minute that content creators who are being pitched this bundle do 90% of their gaming on a PC. They'll either have bought a brand new PS5 just for the luxury of playing GTA 6 at launch - and will thus have a clean drive with more than 210GB of space. Or, they'll have so few games on their machines anyway that an extra terabyte of internal storage won't really come in that handy anyway.
It's not as though having more internal space for clips and onboard recordings will help either. With an external capture card, everything will be stored on a PC, where more storage would actually be more helpful, probably with an external drive to save money. In recent years, PlayStation has made it more and more difficult to get your recorded gameplay clips off the PS5 and make them usable due to formatting anyway.
From a quick sift through what else is on offer, I'd argue content creators could do a lot better than Elgato's Twitch bundle, so I've created my own little bundle with more affordable products down below.
The 4KS is a much more affordable alternative right now, and it's still pretty feature-rich. You'll still get 4K60 passthrough and recording, HDR10 support, and access to all of Elgato's software bells and whistles.
Or, if you're really on a budget, the Neo will save you loads of money, allowing you to capture 1080p60 footage but play in full 4K60 - which, again, is actually more than you'll need for playing GTA6 at 30fps.
If you even need more storage space, an external HDD will help in either situation. The Seagate Portable HDD can easily store the inactive titles in your library. Alternatively, it'll let you transfer clips from a console to your PC, or just give you that backup room for more gameplay footage.
For more, take a look at the best controllers for GTA 6 and the best gaming headsets for GTA 6.
