Amazon Now Owns Twitch

For the past few months, the rumor mill kept turning at the possibility of Twitch.tv being bought out by Google and YouTube. In a surprise twist that feels like it was all directed by M. Night Shyamalan, it is now official: Amazon is the one to come out on top with a successful deal to own the game streaming site.

The news was confirmed earlier today in a “thank you” letter to the fans from Twitch’s CEO, Emmett Shear, who states:

“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.”

“Chose” Amazon? Sounds like it was true that Google was shooting for it after all. That’s no big surprise, but an Amazon and Twitch partnership makes me pretty optimistic for the future of the site. For example, it’s pretty likely that this means Twitch will have some kind of access to Amazon servers, which can lead to a much smoother (and less delayed) viewing & streaming experience. Who knows, maybe this could lead to a bundle deal that combines Amazon Prime with Twitch Turbo? Wishful thinking there, maybe, but one can dream, right?

As for just how much money was handed over to make this all happen, Amazon revealed that it cost them . . . a mere $970 million. That number is even more impressive when you consider that Twitch is just 3 years old at this point, and now they have the full support of one of the biggest companies on the internet.

As usual, we want to hear from our readers on this. Do you see good things ahead for Twitch, or does the change worry you? Let us know!

Jeremy Harrison has been into gaming and just about everything nerdy or out of the norm for as long as he can remember. He likes to keep an open mind about things, but also has a strangely high amount of fun getting into a rant or good debate. . . which is probably why he was recruited to this site in the first place. You can Email Jeremy or follow Jeremy on Twitter @NightmareAsylum or Facebook