Het is gebeurd: Twitch voor $970 miljoen gekocht door… Amazon

Amazon heeft de populaire videogame streaming dienst Twitch gekocht. Voor niet minder dan $970 miljoen is Twitch nu een dochterbedrijf van Amazon geworden. Dit nieuws komt wat als een verrassing, want verwacht werd dat Google de koper zou zijn.

De deal is door beide partijen bevestigd en zal worden afgerond in de tweede helft van dit jaar. Er gaat $970 gemoeid met de verkoop. Twitch zal een zelfstandige entiteit blijven en als dochteronderneming van Amazon verdergaan.

Amazon is blij dat deze populaire videogame streaming dienst nu deel gaat uitmaken van haar portfolio. Jeff Bezos, CEO van Amazon, maakt zich sterk dat beide bedrijven een bedrijfscultuur delen en dat de overname gamers ten goede zal komen.

Ook de CEO van Twitch, Emmett Shear,  heeft gereageerd:

Dear Twitch Community,

It’s almost unbelievable that slightly more than 3 years ago, Twitch didn’t exist. The moment we launched, we knew we had stumbled across something special. But what followed surprised us as much as anyone else, and the impact it’s had on both the community and us has been truly profound.

Your talent, your passion, your dedication to gaming, your memes, your brilliance – these have made Twitch what it is today. Every day, we strive to live up to the standard set by you, the community. We want to create the very best place to share your gaming and life online, and that mission continues to guide us.

Together with you, we’ve found new ways of connecting developers and publishers with their fans. We’ve created a whole new kind of career that lets people make a living sharing their love of games. We’ve brought billions of hours of entertainment, laughter, joy and the occasional ragequit. I think we can all call that a pretty good start.

Today, I’m pleased to announce we’ve been acquired by Amazon. 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.

I personally want to thank you, each and every member of the Twitch community, for what you’ve created. Thank you for putting your faith in us. Thank you for sticking with us through growing pains and stumbles. Thank you for bringing your very best to us and sharing it with the world. Thank you, from a group of gamers who never dreamed they’d get to help shape the face of the industry that we love so much.

It’s dangerous to go alone. On behalf of myself and everyone else at Twitch, thank you for coming with us.

Emmett Shear, CEO

Benieuwd wat deze samenwerking zal brengen. Een integratie tussen de (gamesafdeling van de) webshop van Amazon en de streaming dienst lijkt alvast voor de hand liggend.