Google's Deal to Buy Twitch

[Ayen]

You will be assimilated.

The rumored deal that will see Google acquire game-streaming service Twitch has been confirmed, according to a GamesBeat report.

Variety reported back in May that YouTube--a subsidiary of Google--had reached a deal to acquire Twitch for $1 billion. (Microsoft was also rumored to have been interested.) The companies refused to comment on the matter at the time, and in lieu of any official word in the ensuing two months, there has been speculation about whether the deal had fallen apart.

GamesBeat's report states the acquisition will indeed go through. However, the exact price, as well as when an official announcement will be made, remain uncertain. When contacted by GameSpot for confirmation, both Twitch and Google declined to comment.

Source

I don't use Twitch, but thought some of you would be interested in hearing about this. I'm not all that familiar with Google business practices; people are always blaming them for the current state of YouTube, so I can see people getting riled if Google owns Twitch. One billion dollars is a lot of money to turn down, though.

Discuss.

[Psychotic]

Heard Dr Unne discussing this on his Twitch stream. He made a good point that it's a huge loss of competition as Twitch is, to an extent, a YouTube competitor.

[Ayen]

Heard Dr Unne discussing this on his Twitch stream. He made a good point that it's a huge loss of competition as Twitch is, to an extent, a YouTube competitor.

Makes me wonder if that was part of the reason they made the deal.

[Ergroilnin]

While I personally don't religiously watch or stream on Twitch, I still think google shouldn't mess with it at all. But I can see that 1 bil dollars is seriously hard to reject.

[Dr Unne]

Google's handling of copyright issues on Youtube doesn't make me feel good about this. Twitch is currently an anything-goes wonderland, and that can't last.

I live on Twitch, I watch it all day nearly every day while I work. I stream whenever I can. I've discovered a bunch of nice communities via Twitch. I don't want Twitch to be ruined. It would make me very sad.

[Sephex]

"You must use your Google+ account to log in"

It was nice while it lasted.

[Loony BoB]

"You must use your Google+ account to log in"

It was nice while it lasted.

Please no.

[escobert]

I will flip out of they do they same thing with twitch that they've done with youtube.

Exactly the google+ trout. I don't use google plus, all of my uploads, likes ect are on my youtbe account yet I can't do anything with it now. smurf you google, I hate you.

[Loony BoB]

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Google used to be the best PR company in the world and everyone loved them and pointed to them as the shining light or something. And then they bought out YouTube, and now Twitch. At least Facebook doesn't force me to attach my WhatsApp profile to my Facebook account.

[Bolivar]

This is like when EoFF prematurely freaked out over the Facebook-Oculus acquisition.

Isn't your Google+ account really just your Gmail account?

[Slothy]

Google+ and draconian copyright enforcement? Someone make the new twitch soon please.

Bolivar, maybe I don't want to have my twitch, YouTube, gmail, and every other account all connected and rolled into one. And maybe I don't want to be strong armed into using their smurfing social networking service no one gives a trout about every time I use a website.

[escobert]

This is like when EoFF prematurely freaked out over the Facebook-Oculus acquisition.

Isn't your Google+ account really just your Gmail account?

I suppose it is but, when I go to Youtube I am forced to comment under Bob Howe not my youtube escobarbert account. this is very annoying. I don't use google for anything except email. And, I don't want/need my real name being used in youtube comments and videos.

[Bolivar]

Have you tried disconnecting your Google+ account and real name in the account settings? It's one of the first things you see there.

[Skyblade]

This is like when EoFF prematurely freaked out over the Facebook-Oculus acquisition.

Isn't your Google+ account really just your Gmail account?

The thing is, Oculus was just a potential technology that plenty of people had doubts about anyway.

Twitch is a product that is already massively successful

I'm hoping we'll just get a new Twitch. It's never been as huge of a service as YouTube, or had the massive driving name recognition. It's used almost entirely for video game streaming, from what I've seen. If gamers are forced to suffer the completely insane policies that Google enforces, I'm pretty sure Twitch will die and another streaming service will take off. Most game reviewers and such now run their own video websites because YouTube has created such a hostile environment. I'm pretty sure they'll start doing the same with streaming as well. Then some new group will start compiling the services, until we get a new Twitch, while the old one goes the way of MySpace.

Maybe it's unlikely, but we can hope.

[Dr Unne]

If only it was as easy as "someone make a new Twitch". Twitch is HUGE and had a lot of problems growing to the size it is now. Scaling that big isn't something any old company can do. There's also the whole social aspect. Who's going to stream on a competitor site and have 5 viewers when they can use Twitch and have 5,000? Sometimes the MySpaces die and are replaced by Facebooks, but it doesn't happen often and not unless the new thing is considerably better than the old thing.

There already are alternatives to Twitch. Main one I know of is http://www.hitbox.tv/