According to a “reliable” internet source, Google has acquired Twitch for a measly $1 billion price tag — Sale price is not confirmed.
The acquisition by Google, under the YouTube branch, would be Google’s largest acquisition since they took over YouTube in 2006; a $1.65 billion buy at the time. This could create friction and competition between the gaming communities of YouTube and Twitch. As most of you already know, but if you don’t, Twitch is a live-steaming gaming website that touts, according to VentureBeat:
“more than 50 million monthly active users and more than 1.1 million members who broadcast videos each month.”
Since implementation of Twitch on home consoles, these numbers are steadily increasing to the chagrin of early Twitch investors.
Although YouTube still boasts the most comprehensive gaming video catalogue “serving more than 6 billion hours of video per month to 1 billion users worldwide” reports VentureBeat, Twitch started in 2011 and has already grown to around 1.35% of all interested traffic in March. Not bad, Twitch.
The question remains: Can Twitch retains its small, non-corporate aura as they climb the ladder of mega-corporation success? As compared to YouTube, Twitch, at this time, must keep their live game streaming the cornerstone that continues to expand their success. A testament to the power of Twitch comes in the form of the “Twitch Plays Pokémon” storm that swirled around the internet, pulling the curious and non-curious alike into the maelstorm.
Twitch looks like to the future, giving hardcore and would be gamers a chance to live vicariously through those who stream so well.
