Remember a few weeks ago when everyone said Google was going to buy Twitch? And then remember a few weeks after that, when more people said Google was going to buy Twitch, and everyone seemed pretty sure it was a done deal? Surprise! Twitch has announced that they’re being bought by Amazon! Oh, you thought I was going to say Google? Yeah, you’re not the only one.
Yes, it’s really official: Twitch and Amazon have both made announcements that they’re moving forward with a deal for Amazon to buy the video game streaming service for $970 million. Twitch CEO Emmett Shear promised in his announcement letter that Twitch will stay the same and only get better with Amazon’s help:
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.
Another reason they chose Amazon was, according to Forbes, Google’s hesitance over anti-trust issues with a YouTube acquisition of Twitch. So, Amazon swooped in and scooped the company up instead, citing Twitch’s incredible 55 million unique visitors and 15 billion minutes of content viewed in July as why they’d be happy to profit from Google’s trepidation.
Amazon says the deal is set to close in the latter half of this year.
(via Ars Technica)
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Published: Aug 25, 2014 06:00 pm