MOSCOW, August 26 (RIA Novosti) — Game streaming service Twitch announced today on its website that it has been acquired by Amazon for $970 million dollars.
Twitch is an online service that allows users to broadcast themselves playing video games. Anyone can set up an account and broadcast. Viewers have the ability to pay to subscribe to certain user’s feeds for special access and offers. The service, now in its third year, has a user base of over 55 million according to the BBC.
“Today, I’m pleased to announce we’ve been acquired by Amazon.” Emmett Shear announced on his companies blog today, “We chose Amazon because they believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision, and they want to help us get there faster. We’re keeping most everything the same: our office, our employees, our brand, and most importantly our independence. But with Amazon’s support we’ll have the resources to bring you an even better Twitch.”
Emmett is looking forward to working with Amazon and thanked his community, saying “Your talent, your passion, your dedication to gaming, your memes, your brilliance – these have made Twitch what it is today. Every day, we strive to live up to the standard set by you, the community. We want to create the very best place to share your gaming and life online, and that mission continues to guide us.”
The deal represents the ongoing changes of modern consumer media. Youtube paved the way, with their streaming service, with many of their uploaders specifically recording themselves playing video games. In addition, the world of E-Sports has been growing rapidly in the past decade, with games like League of Legends offering a grand prize of $1 million recently. During peak times, such as during EVO 2013, a fighting competition, individual streams can record over 1.7 million unique views reports Gamespot.
Emmett is looking forward to working with Amazon and thanked his community, saying “Your talent, your passion, your dedication to gaming, your memes, your brilliance – these have made Twitch what it is today. Every day, we strive to live up to the standard set by you, the community. We want to create the very best place to share your gaming and life online, and that mission continues to guide us.”
