Amazon Officially Acquires Twitch, CEO Confirms (Updated)
Update: The CEO of Twitch, Emmett Shear, has just confirmed on the company website that Amazon has indeed purchased the video game-streaming service. His letter to both fans and broadcasters reads as follows:
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.
Emmett Shear, CEO
Original Story:
The online mega-retailer, Amazon, is the latest company said to acquire the video game-streaming service, Twitch. Hopefully, they get free shipping for a deal that expensive.
Polygon reports that Amazon is in "late-stage talks" to acquire Twitch, the online video game-streaming service. Originally announced by The Information, Twitch is nearing a deal to be bought out by the online retailer. We recently reported that YouTube, which is owned by Google, had reached a deal to buy Twitch for approximately $1 billion. It was expected to be announced as final not too long ago, however it seems that deal never reached fruition based on this new buyout rumor. The Information's report claims that an announcement will be made shortly. Both Twitch and Amazon have yet to respond to inquiries about the supposed acquisition.
Just a few weeks ago, Twitch added new rules to change its video stream services and policies, such as blocking copyrighted songs being used in broadcasts and limitations as to how it archives older broadcasts. Many believed these moves were in anticipation of the Google purchase about to be made final. Due to overall negative responses, Twitch announced exceptions to these new rules just a few hours later, and Google is still nowhere to be seen anywhere on Twitch.
We'll be sure to keep a close eye on further developments in the ongoing Twitch purchase competition.