It hasn't reached confirmed level yet but right now there's a very strong rumor being reported that
YouTube Google is acquiring Twitch for a fuck-load of money.
http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/youtube-to-acquire-videogame-streaming-service-twitch-for-1-billion-sources-1201185204/
Google’s YouTube has reached a deal to buy Twitch, a popular videogame-streaming company, for more than $1 billion, according to sources familiar with the pact.
The deal, in an all-cash offer, is expected to be announced imminently, sources said. If completed the acquisition would be the most significant in the history of YouTube, which Google acquired in 2006 for $1.65 billion. The impending acquisition comes after longtime Google ad exec Susan Wojcicki was named CEO of YouTube earlier this year.
Reps for YouTube and Twitch declined to comment.
San Francisco-based Twitch lets users upload and watch free, live gameplay videos that can be streamed from Microsoft Xbox and PlayStation 4 consoles. The company claims to have more than 45 million monthly users, with more than 1 million members who upload videos each month. It also has deals to distribute shows from partners including CBS Interactive’s GameSpot, Joystiq and Destructoid.
Twitch is huge. Like really huge. Twitch is within the top three bandwidth consumers globally - and this is a website whose strength has been video game streaming. A lot of people rely on it - not just independent streamers, but e-sports outfits. From top to bottom this news, if it follows through, could screw up a lot of things for a lot of people.
The concerns come in regarding Google's operation of YouTube. The first problem to arise was their "shoot first, ask questions later" manner of handling copyright infringement claims. There was a time where anyone could file a complaint claiming to be the owner, with no validation, and get content removed. What hasn't changed is that it takes a long, long time for a counter-claim to be acted on. More concerns about YouTube have arisen when Google-wide account linking got heavily enforced, to the point that Google+ integration was forcing people to use real-life information simply to comment on videos. The final stake in everything is Google's Content ID system, where copyright claims now just funnel money to the claimant and, still, counter-claims take forever. But it doesn't stop the money flow.
Some people dismiss this stuff, probably because it doesn't affect them ("who cares it's just video game alarmist stuff"). We had reached a point over the last couple years where streaming became a legit entertainment business. There's been questionable bumps along the way, but the competitive level thrives on services like Twitch, to the point that its importance brought it to console gaming. This could potentially set all of this several steps back, if not just bring it to a grinding halt depending how heavy-handed Google works to integrating this as a Google product.
There's always the slim chance that Google is making a "buy for income, but be hands off" move, which would make me happy as shit because at least Twitch would have a massive corporation backing its operational costs. But I'm not holding my breath.
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On the other hand, this is Google Owns More Shit, which is bad.
Cons: Google has shit UI developers for Youtube.
When you say "runs things" are you talking about on the business end or the operations end? I hear a lot of praise for the former and questionable on the latter.
Arbitrary UI change is the worst thing. Twitch made a UI change like a half a year ago / a year ago, but it was substantial. And isn't being replaced already.
Welp, buh-bye Twitch.
Hope everyone at their office has other work lined-up.
What I'm expecting is licensing to become a thing. "Want to stream this game? Better pay."
I think that doing either of these would effectively kill twitch, and basically mean that Google just threw away a billion dollars. As much money as they have, they aren't stupid and aren't going to gladly lose that much money.
I expect that the worst that comes of this is that we will have to link our twitch accounts to google and start getting targeted ads...well and twitch's UI will start changing every other month becoming less and less usable with each "improvement."
And by yearly you mean monthly?
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Well, it's not like they did anything similar with YouTube, so I don't think they'd do that. Besides, they'd ultimately scare-off content creators and shrink their subscriber base.
Twitch and Youtube are two pillars of Internet media that, in my opinion, have gotten rotten but exist by sheer size and the fact there's nothing else to replace them. So, eh, whatever. All hail the collective Google consciousness.