Amazon has agreed to buy the massively popular video game streaming website in an all-cash deal totaling approximately $970 million.
This deal came just months after numerous reports that Google had a deal to acquire Twitch.
According to Emmett Shear, the CEO of Twitch, Amazon plans to let Twitch operate independently, out of its offices in San Francisco. It seems Twich decides to choose Amazon over Google because of this reason.
Twitch did not exist a little over three years ago, and it now has 55 million unique viewers a month globally.
Twitch specializes in live videos of the people playing games.
Twitch viewers typically see the screen of a broadcaster, featuring the game being played, along with a video feed of the player’s face and a chat window so they can communicate with the player and others watching the action.
Twitch viewers visit to the site to improve their gaming skills by watching people who have mastered a game or just to get a closer look at games before buying them. Some of the biggest followings on Twitch are of people who are simply amusing, rather than the best players.
Gamers can transmit games over Twitch by using PCs along with consoles like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
The company shares advertising revenue with people who broadcast over its service.
Video games have long been something people played. But in the last few years, the games have become something that people sit back and watch, , because of the fast Internet access and multiplayer games.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says “Broadcasting and watching gameplay is a global phenomenon”
