Twitch To Be Bought By Amazon: Confirmed
After much misdirection, rumour and confusion, it has been revealed that Twitch will be purchased by Amazon for a currently undisclosed figure. It is rumoured to be around the $1 billion mark but there is nothing concrete to confirm this thus far.
Twitch CEO Emmett Shear posted this message on Twitch directly covering the changes:
Letter from the CEO August 25, 2014
Dear Twitch Community,
It’s almost unbelievable that slightly more than 3 years ago, Twitch didn’t exist. The moment we launched, we knew we had stumbled across something special. But what followed surprised us as much as anyone else, and the impact it’s had on both the community and us has been truly profound. 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. Together with you, we’ve found new ways of connecting developers and publishers with their fans. We’ve created a whole new kind of career that lets people make a living sharing their love of games. We’ve brought billions of hours of entertainment, laughter, joy and the occasional ragequit. I think we can all call that a pretty good start. Today, I’m pleased to announce we’ve been acquired by Amazon. 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. I personally want to thank you, each and every member of the Twitch community, for what you’ve created. Thank you for putting your faith in us. Thank you for sticking with us through growing pains and stumbles. Thank you for bringing your very best to us and sharing it with the world. Thank you, from a group of gamers who never dreamed they’d get to help shape the face of the industry that we love so much. It’s dangerous to go alone. On behalf of myself and everyone else at Twitch, thank you for coming with us.
No more relying on sources, this is the real deal. As above, Amazon apparently shares Twitch's values and wishes to allow them to retain their independence, which can only be a good thing. However, time shall tell whether this was the right decision to be made.
Speculation:
- Amazon Prime membership could potentially cross-over into Twitch Turbo membership and beyond adding further value to the product and cross-sell potential.
- Amazon partnership could be offered directly to partners without the need to apply specifically, opening up the earning potential for all partners.
- Amazon could provide direct avenues of conversation between stock providers and streamers allowing for more freebies and promotion for individuals and therefore giving a more rewarding experience.
- Scalability for all servers via Amazon Cloud, therefore less interruptions, lag and drops altogether.
Those may seem like a wild wishlist but they are all potential improvements that could be made fairly easily with great benefit. We certainly hope they will be taken on board.