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.Ā Twitch CEO Emmett Shear promised in his announcement letter that Twitch will stay the same and only get better with Amazon’s help:
Today, Iām pleased to announce weāve 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. Weāre keeping most everything the same: our office, our employees, our brand, and most importantly our independence. But with Amazonās support weāll 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 scoopedĀ 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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