Windows game recording has grown phenomenally since the start of the decade. The major proponent of this growth has been the rise of YouTube and other streaming services like Twitch and Discord. Hence, these services have given a platform for the community of gamers to share their experiences online. Moreover, gamers can even talk about tips/tricks, have competitions and support each other. Consequently, recording and uploading gameplays including live streaming and esports are all byproducts of the betterment of streaming technology. Conclusively, it’s nothing short of an industry today.
Since a lot of gamers depend on YouTube and other ad revenue, setting up a gaming rig which allows them to attract more viewers is key to their success. One of the initial investments of any streamer has to make involves a screen or game recording software. When they had just rolled out, this software used to be limited to capturing what was on the desktop screen. No more though. Today, most of these software’s allow you to capture webcam footage, superimpose logos, benchmark performance and what not. All these features allow streamers to customize their content and add their own flair to their projects.
1. Action!
Action! is a highly intuitive and user-friendly screen-recording software. Its customizability ensures that you can record precisely what you mean to. A recording manager can easily browse, delete and organize the recordings itself. Furthermore, it offers amazing HD video quality up to 60 FPS, as well as allows you to customize your recordings with superimposition and slow-motion. Not to mention that it even supports benchmarking and seamless window recording like no other software.
Features
- Action!’s Greenscreen mode lets you cut out the background from your webcam video with ease and at a margin of the cost of specialized equipment.
- Selected Application recording option lets you record only the application window that you select while blacking out any other items on the screen.
- Its optimized gameplay recording and GPU utilization ensure that you upload smooth HD quality videos every single time.
- It's streaming service lets you stream your screen and gameplay on popular platforms, including Facebook, Twitch.tv, YouTube, and Aliez.
Pricing
At $29.95 you can either purchase home or commercial license for a lifetime. Action! also offers a 30-day free trial period available for new users.
2. Ice Cream
Ice Cream screen recorder is indeed delish when it comes to the various tastes or features it offers to its users. Not only can you easily record external audio but webcam recording with Ice Cream is a breeze as well. Moreover, tools like ‘zoom in’ and ‘area selection’, 'discussed greater in-depth below', are additional aids to your editing and customization processes. Indeed, Ice Cream screen/game recording software helps you add your own flair to any recording you create. It even supports multiple formats like WebM, MP4, AVI, and MOV for its output. 
Features
- You can select the area that you wish to record and any other items on your screen would be totally excluded.
- Ice Cream even lets you set the video quality of the recording that you create, allowing customization depending on how the video would be used.
- Through Ice Cream, you can easily add texts, arrows and other shapes or annotations to your clips.
- It even lets you customize, edit and superimpose your own watermarks to your videos.
Pricing
Ice Cream lets you access some limited functionality of the software for a five-minute recording in its trial version. You can access its full version for a one-time fee of $29.95
3. Bandicam
Bandicam is one of the most adept and specialized game recording software available in the market right now. It offers ultra-high definition 4K video recording. Moreover, its GPU, CPU and RAM optimized usage means that you’d experience the least amount of lag possible while recording even the most demanding games. Bandicam also allows you to uploads your videos easily to online platform like YouTube at a greater speed without compressing the video. It even lets you record over 24 hours of gaming footage without interruptions. All these features make Bandicam one of the most popular options for game recording.
Features
- You can easily upload your full video to YouTube without requiring any conversion.
- Bandicam permits you to record online games and your browser in high-quality videos.
- It also lets you use an FPS counter to monitor the performance of your game and PC.
- You can easily overlay your webcam and add additional audio to your recording depending on your need.
- Real-time drawing inside Bandicam lets you easily highlight specific features on the screen with ease.
Pricing
Bandicam offers a free version for trial purposes before you even need to make a purchase. The cost of licenses also depends on the number of PCs you are buying. The pricing runs as follows:
- 1 PC - $39
- 2 PC - $59
- 5 PC - $137
- 10 PC - $254
- 20 PC - $468
If you need additional licenses, you can send a request to bandicam@bandicam.com for consultations and get an even fairer price.
