Google In Talks To Buy Twitch For $1 Billion

Two reports have suggested that Google (via YouTube) are to purchase Twitch for more than $1 billion in cash.

Variety seem to think the deal is done and will be “announced imminently” whilst the Wall Street Journal suggest “talks are at an early stage, and a deal isn’t imminent.” Both are citing “sources close to the matter.”

Although YouTube has its own steaming service it falls way behind Twitch which accounted for nearly 44% of streaming traffic by volume in the week of April 7 in the United States.

The Verge report that Microsoft was also in the running to purchase the streaming company and had made “serious approaches to Twitch”, a move that could have proved difficult for Sony.

Even if a deal is agreed it will face scrutinisation from the United States Justice Department, Google already the most popular video site, YouTube, and purchasing Twitch may raise anticompetitive issues.

Source:  Verge / Variety / WSJ

17 Comments

  1. I would rather like for the regulators to tell Google and Youtube to stuff it. They hold an utterly dominant position in the video market place and have their own streaming solutions built in and available to pretty much anyone via Google Hangouts.

    Much like Amazon buying up Comixology last month, this kind of thing is anti-competitive, and no matter what frivilous concessions they have to make, Youtube would likely end up with something approaching a monopoly.

    Also, ContentID applied to Twitch would be a complete and utter pain.

    • Hear hear.
      Also, shame on the owners of Twitch for selling out to an unscrupulous non-gaming oriented party.

  2. Glad Google got it and not Microsoft.

    Can you imagine it being a Xbox live gold service behind a pay wall and closed to PlayStation.

    At least with Google it will remain free and open.

    • How can you even say those words? Google is one of the worst case scenarios. I’d rather have it turn into a payed service than fall in their hands.

    • Free and open and full of unskippable adverts. Google ruin everything they buy. I’d rather nobody bought it really though.

      • We’ve already got those unskippable adverts on Live from Playstation, thankfully not too frequently but still quite annoying so i wouldn’t like to see an increase. I would rather nobody buy it too – i just can’t see it holding true to it’s current ethos once somebody else takes over.

      • Yep, sadly the first priority is getting the money back that they paid whenever something is bought out. And that’s always going to be adverts with a online service.

  3. This would be terrible! As Stefan says, this is Google buying out one of their competitors and building their monopoly.

    And let us not forget how they’ve screwed over YouTube with all its constant adverts, regulations and that horrid abomination that is a shared Google account.

    Google has grown too powerful, I hope Twitch stays its own master.

    • I spent about 2 hours messing about so I could make a youtube account using my gamertag not my real name. Google need to realise nobody wants to use their facebook/twitter wannabe service.

      • Except they do. Google+ has more active users then twitter.

        Join the PlayStation community there, its very busy and has more interaction than Facebook.

      • Ok not nobody but you get my point. Google have been trying to be the big social media platform for ages. I suspect the more active users is due to the youtube integration and google mail being added too. Don’t trust any of the big corps when it comes to willy waving statistics.

  4. Am not really using Twitch so far. But still, this is very bad news, I lost all my trust in Google over the last couple of years.

  5. It seems Google won’t be happy until they own the world!

  6. …”in cash”?

    Small, unmarked bills, then?

  7. Sound buggered as a Playstation user either way..

    Don’t listen to the money Twitch owners/shareholders, fight the power! Be independent!

  8. It surprises me that there’s not more outrage about this given the ContentID debacle, and Nintendo’s thumbscrews about Lets Play vids being on Youtube.

    Google’s new motto ‘Do no evil, be more asshat’

  9. R.I.P Twitch. Everything Google buys just gets ruined.

    I much preferred Google when it was just a search engine.

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