Amazon Twitch Acquisition: Changes Being Made

What can you expect as a gamer – as a gamer who streams on Twitch, more specifically – now that Amazon has purchased your favorite streaming network? Not a whole lot of change right off the bat, believe it or not – not like changes earlier this month. Let's discuss the possibilities.

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"At this time," says Twitch Community Manager Chase in a statement to SlashGear, "the biggest change will be that Amazon will help us accelerate all of the things we want to do for our community."

Several more key statements have been made by Twitch and/or Amazon just this afternoon. The first of these comes from Twitch CEO Emmett Shear. Here after noting that "the future of gaming" is on the minds of Twitch and Amazon, Shear suggests the following:

"Being part of Amazon will let us do even more for our community. We will be able to create tools and services faster than we could have independently." – Twitch CEO Emmett Shear

"This change will mean great things for our community, added Shear, and will let us bring Twitch to even more people around the world." In other words – this acquisition will bring more server power from Amazon to Twitch and we'll see more support for software development for Twitch apps and creative on-site tools.

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That bit came from the official PR release from Twitch and Amazon. Shear also released a "thank you" letter to the public via the Twitch homepage. In it, he suggests that "We want to create the very best place to share your gaming and life online, and that mission continues to guide us."

Note that both your "gaming" and your "life" are included in that statement. At the moment, Twitch only really allows the sharing of your "life" through your "gaming", as it were. This may be the opening of some more doors to more generalized content.

Shear also suggests the following – this is perhaps the most key statement of the whole bunch:

"We're keeping most everything the same: our office, our employees, our brand, and most importantly our independence." – Twitch CEO Emmett Shear

While that's not a statement that solidifies the aims of the site, it does suggest that basically everything will remain the same with Amazon onboard. Or Twitch onboard with Amazon, however you want to see it.

What do you expect Amazon will do with Twitch from here on out?

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