Although Amazon comes to mind as the leading name in online retail, their bid to enter the video-streaming realm hasn’t quite paid off. With Netflix reigning undeterred for years, Amazon Prime Instant Video has yet to shoulder its way into the market and make a huge impact, and neither has Amazon’s bid at creating original content, failing to live up to the promise of shows like Orange is the New Black or House of Cards. Hoping to combat their poor luck, Amazon has announced that they plan on acquiring live-streaming video game site Twitch for about $970 million.
Both companies announced Monday that a deal is being reached that may finally give Amazon the foothold it needs in the video-streaming domain. Launched in 2011 by co-creators Justin Kan and Emmett Shear, Twitch has made a name for itself as the leading site for gamers interested in streaming video game content. Since its launch, Twitch has grown exponentially through its inclusion on both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, branching out enough to catch Amazon’s eye.
Shear had this to say about the deal in a statement:
Amazon and Twitch optimize for our customers first and are both believers in the future of gaming. Being part of Amazon will let us do even more for our community. We will be able to create tools and services faster than we could have independently. This change will mean great things for our community, and will let us bring Twitch to even more people around the world.”
This announcement comes after Google was reportedly in talks with the company for the acquisition. Luckily, the deal fell through, perhaps after the backlash Google faced after acquiring YouTube and forcing changes upon the users for the worse.
Is Amazon’s acquisition of the immensely popular Twitch a good sign for the future of both sites? Or is it just another case of an outsider company fixing what isn’t broken? Sound off in the comments below and let us know.
