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Gamers, be warned — Twitch might soon be thrust under the umbrella of the big, bad Google. YouTube reportedly wants to buy the video games streaming network for over $1 billion. The news isn’t official, though Variety has it on good authority that the deal is being prepped for proposal to shareholders, investors, antitrust regulators and the like.
This would be both YouTube and Twitch’s biggest deal ever. The former hasn’t made tons of moves as an independent entity, though parent company Google isn’t against throwing money around every other day. Twitch, on the other hand, has raised just $35 million to date, making this their biggest deal yet by far. It’ll be interesting to see how Justin.TV figures into all of this considering they’re the very umbrella that Twitch exists under.
Gaming content on YouTube has come a long way since late 2010 and early 2011, the time during which Twitch was erected. It has been one of the most popular categories on YouTube, and was the absolute most popular category on parent service Justin.TV since that time.
YouTube is obviously no stranger to dabbling in the live streaming arena. It launched the service to partners and special content providers some time ago, and since expanded to the everyday Joe Schmoe through Google+ Hangouts on Air. But Twitch’s sole focus on gaming has allowed them to become not only the biggest web destination for live video game streaming, but one of the biggest live streaming platforms period.
Of course, there’s no telling how YouTube would look to leverage Twitch should this deal go through, but we’ll be keeping a close eye on all this if it ever makes its way past the courtrooms of the world. In the meantime, we’re just hoping Twitch will update their archaic Android app with a more modern user interface like they’ve already done for our iOS-using brethren.
[via Variety]
Please don’t do it Twitch.
Would you turn down 1 BILLION dollars though?
Probably not, but I said please.. There were other suitors.
Yeah, Microsoft, they smartly turned that down to go with YouTube, and realistically YT is possibly the only suitor that cannot screw up Twitch in the process, and who else has the knowhow to help Twitch?
The only other company that would do something like this is FaceBook. I shudder to think about how many different ways FB would screw (up) Twitch. Not a fan of the possibility of random invites from people to watch their masterful use of in-game purchasing to get ahead in “Freemium” social games. Christ I hate FB…. /rant
*sigh* please stop Google.
I don’t wanna use G+ to watch streams. And I like to watch copyrighted things.
I was thinking the same thing. However, it’s a smart move to get everyone to move to Google+.
If everyday things you use is Google+ why have Facebook?
Because Facebook was already established before Google+ even came out. Everyone who wants a social network is already on FB. They don’t need a second one.
Um…? What I meant was if everything is Google+, I should stop using Facebook and move to Google+ as my social network.
It’s the same reason people have a phone and not a phone, camera, media player, PDA, etc. Have all your services under one roof. I prefer that concept.
*still uses multiple social networks instead of one*
#Hypocrite
Wrong. I haven’t used FB in 3 years. Long live the best social engagement network and the 2nd most popular social network on the planet! Google+!
This is the only way Google will make me use +,
http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6942530/google-is-going-to-blackmail-you
Thank you for saying that. Many people who have smartphones and use social media even somewhat regularly use Facebook the most. They simply don’t want to deal with moving to a social media platform they may know nothing about (Google+) unless G+ has significant advantages over Facebook that actually matters to them.
Because a lot of people are already on Facebook and too lazy. Disdain for change.
Disdain for change? Possibly. The fact that no one (not even Google) seems interested in creating or marketing advantages/unique features for people to take advantage of after making the effort to move to Google+ from Facebook is baffling to me.
I have yet to grasp the concept of live stream gaming. Why would I want to watch someone else game when I MUCH rather game myself with the little time I have already.
Hell Google should just build a more solid foundation for live stream gaming and leave Twitch in the dust if the deal doesn’t go through. We already know they can do social and video, put em together and add gaming and we have an even larger plethora of Google services for them to amass even more ad revenue.
Its mainly the communities that pop up around this and some of the larger channels on twitch even get to do interviews and the like with people in the gaming industry.
I totally agree. On top of those there are two other benefits that I have seen. First, you get to watch someone else play a game that you were thinking about buying. I bought XCOM: Enemy Within and decided against the new Spiderman game all because of watching some gameplay on Twitch.
Second, there are some very talented streamers. If you like games which involve strategy (DOTA 2, League of Legends, Hearthstone, etc.) then you can learn and ask questions in order to improve your own gameplay.
The potential advertising revenue and demand for watching skilled people play popular video games is a goldmine for highly skilled players, sponsors, streaming services etc. As far as the rest of the population goes it’s more fun to watch those live streams (or even being at the live event) than you may think. The whole cybersports phenomenon is to video game enthusiasts (and smart companies) what football, soccer, baseball and basketball are to most other popular sports enthusiasts and the sponsors of those sports.
Do it!
Wait a second your telling me you actually use the Twitch.tv APP why not use VORTEX! its the best twitch app period