Prior to this, YouTube was testing out sponsorships where its availability was limited to those who were chosen to be part of its beta program, but the recent announcement has indicated that YouTube will open up sponsorships to all of its YouTube Gaming creators (assuming they are eligible and meet certain requirements).
According to YouTube, “With sponsorships, fans can purchase digital goods directly from your channel and support you via monthly recurring payments of $4.99 USD (local pricing applies). Sponsors get cool insider perks, such as a custom badge for live chat that will help them stand out from the crowd and custom emoji. These badges and emoji are designed by you for your fans.”
YouTube is claiming that they have seen some successes with the sponsorship feature but it remains to be seen how well it will do now that it has been opened up to more. There have been some recent criticism about how it is harder to make money on YouTube these days, so maybe this sponsorship feature could be a new way to go about it.