While it might seem odd at first to watch other people play video games instead of playing them, it’s apparently big business. Twitch, one of the biggest live video game streaming services, has raised over $20 million in its latest round of funding, according to VentureBeat.

Gamers do indeed enjoy watching other people play, even as much as they enjoy playing games themselves. Twitch claims to see over 45 million unique streams viewed daily.

With this kind of popularity, it’s hard for investors not to take notice. One of them is Take Two Interactive, the developer of the popular “Grand Theft Auto” series of games. Take Two recently published the very successful “Grand Theft Auto V.”

"Gamers today have a healthy appetite for both producing and consuming live video game content, so it's vital that we're not only keeping pace with them, but staying one step ahead," said Kevin Lin, Twitch COO. "With the investments from Thrive Capital, WestSummit Capital, and Take-Two Interactive, it ensures we can more effectively grow and tap into new markets.”

"Twitch is a company that we see riding multiple waves both in gaming and online video,” said Chris Paik, partner at Thrive Capital, one of the companies that provided the seed funding."By providing gamers a new way to express themselves, Twitch has built a strong, passionate and fast growing community around itself.”

There are some serious applications for video game streaming. It allows for video game tournaments and also replicates some of the social camaraderie that’s always existed around games, with friends and family huddled around a console or a PC. Twitch has extended that capability to the Internet.

The upcoming consoles, the Xbox One and the Playstation 4, will have live streaming capability built in. Twitch is naturally supporting both consoles when they launch, just in time for this year’s Christmas season.

In addition to live streaming, a whole genre of videos has popped up on YouTube (News - Alert), dubbed “Let’s Play” videos, where players record themselves playing various games and offering an often amusing running commentary. The best ones are reminiscent of the cult cable TV comedy show “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” where players make fun of the video game equivalent of B-movies. Like its TV counterpart, the worse the game, the funnier the “Let’s Play” video.