Rumor: Youtube to acquire Twitch

I could actually see both companies getting a good deal out of this with Youtube getting better live streaming stuff and Twitch maybe finally having good archives. That is all I have to say here, Also Twitch is worth only .6 billion less than youtube.

http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/youtube-to-acquire-videogame-streaming-service-twitch-for-1-billion-sources-1201185204/

I hope not

Definitely interesting, if it's true. And I wonder if YouTube's going to keep the Twitch brand alive. I'd think so, because the Twitch name is a name, but who knows. YouTube is also a name.

Bummer.

I feel like the only person on the internet who does not get the Google + hate.

Makes sense.

google can suck my balls.

@uppercaseccc said:

I don't see the hate either. It's probably that Google+ came at a time where Facebook was still rising in popularity and the former was lacking enough interest relative to the latter. People are probably just bewildered more than necessarily angry that Google+ still exists.

Into the topic... this can help YouTube a lot since it's Live program isn't optimized compared to Twitch's system or even UStream. Maybe Twitch will still exist as Twitch and Google will represent it as a separate entity while still owning it.

My reaction to this is a lot less knee-jerky post-Facebook buying Oculus. I can see a lot of potential in this deal.

I'm happy because I don't live in the US and as people in Europe will tell you 'Twitch.tv' simply doesn't work properly over here. Archived streaming is a fucking pain in the arse with constant buffering (and this has happened at every house/computer and ISP I have ever used) and quite often high quality doesn't work on the live streams (at least not stable) . I'm sorry but Twitch simply cannot run a ship well enough for me to give a shit. For example I tried watching that live charity stream today and it was unbearable, I have an 80mbit download and a 20mbit upload... I'm connected via ethernet and am the only one using this connection. 'Best' quality just refused to play after 10 seconds and '480p' worked fine for 10 mins or so before it'd stop to buffer every few seconds, trash service.

I don't hate Google +, I just don't really get it. Like, it doesn't really do anything for me. At least I don't think it does? All I really know is that I now have two YouTube accounts? Or something?

Anyway, uh, yeah, I don't really care what happens here. All I know is that YouTube has a way better video player than Twitch. I'm guessing that's something that Twitch would get out of this?

Hmm...honestly, I don't know if Twitch needs to be bought. It has grown so much and I don't think LESS people are gonna wanna watch game streams. Hell, I've already gotten to the point where I just see whats on Twitch instead of whats on cable, or netflix. I feel like they have the potential to be masters of their own future. Also, if Google does buy them, they will be a scary amount of consolidation of online viewing and streaming services. I can see a future where that can be considered monopoly worthy.

Great. Now when you stream a game with licensed music like GTA or Saints Row you'll have to turn the music volume down to zero or the google robots will flag a copyright claim. Or at least that's the fear.

Because Youtube is doing so much to support video game content.

Twitch was in need of serious competition already. That need is now dire.

@uppercaseccc: I think you meant to say Twitch is worth only .6 billion less than youtube was worth a decade ago.

I don't like that idea then in order to comment on live streams from twitch we will have to have a Google+ Account.

And I kinda like how we have 2 different services by 2 different company's, I don't really want Google to have a monopoly on Live Steaming also.

I might be missing something here, but how can Youtube buy Twitch if Google owns Youtube. Wouldn't it be Google that would buy Twitch ?

@steadyingmeat: Facebook doesn't do anything for me, but a lot of sites require a Facebook account for login.

Once you have a Google+ profile in your name, it's not like you have to use it. Lots of people choose not to use it.

Effectively yes, but if Google were to sell 'Youtube' then 'Twitch' would be considered an asset of Youtube as opposed to Google and go with Youtube unless a deal was struck stating that 'Twitch' would become property of 'Google'

I don't mind Google+ integration. What scares me here is YouTube's recent actions against video game content. If there's something akin to YouTube added to Twitch that sniffs out gameplay, cutscenes, and music - which is a majority of game streams on Twitch since you're not editing the video, you're streaming live play - then what's the point?

I agree. I REALLY don't want Google+ to be required to comment and chat on twitch. Plus as others have said, Youtube's crusade against video game content is something to be considered as well.

Yaaaaay.....

*sobs quietly*

Remember how Microsoft was sued by the US government because IE was on every copy of Windows? I wonder what the reaction will be when Google eventually controls nearly every piece of online video. But then Google is "one of the good ones" I guess. Ahhh whatever, maybe it's not the same.

You're not alone. I like it actually. I wish it took off but people seem attached to establishment.

I hope so. Then Twitch could get some better chat servers.

I don't particularly love or hate Google, but, within these past few years, I have grown to appreciate competition. As a company, this may be a good move for Twitch, but everyone else loses in the long run as far as I'm concerned.

If it means Twitch doesn't run like crap anymore then I'm all for it. Every time there is a stream on Twitch I will get stutters and my internet is perfectly capable of streaming HD. It makes watching anything that is happening live very arduous.

It's only logical

That makes no sense since Twitch is primarily a game streaming service. By Youtube acquiring Twitch, it can become a more open service that will be better about streaming games on their main site.

I appreciate your optimism but, well, historical evidence doesn't point anywhere near that.

welp, fuck it time for game streaming to go to ... uh.... ustream?

Well in their shoes it's probably hard to pass up the money. Seems like that's the exit plan for every teach startup anymore.

Especially since they know if they don't take the offer, Google may try to make their own competing service.

@adoggz said:

Maybe not... UStream gaming channel has turned into a different, and mostly depressing, beast.

Rumor: Twitch about to become terrible.

So how much time do we have until Google owns everything and brings out the killer robots?

Then what do you think the logical reason behind YouTube acquiring Twitch would be? I mean YouTube has its own streaming service, so you think this is an act of snubbing out competition?

@yesiamaduck: I am happy too. With the amount of money Google has it could mean very good things for their infrastructure and backbone. Like you, I also cannot get Twitch to work reliably. It just sucks really bad. Hopefully that can be improved.

This is good news. Twitch would have bigger aspirations that require a lot of money they wouldn't have.

About a week.

is there another reason? If they wanted to be more open about streaming stuff they could release that shit on youtube.

Twitch has had terrible bandwidth for me in Australia since all the PS4 stuff was introduced, so if google can make streaming in HD run as good as it does in youtube, I'd be happy.

The problem with Google+ is that it came AFTER people decided on their usually seperate Gmail/Youtube account names. Now it forces you to either use your real name for both, or an alias for your email...

Not especially surprising.

@uppercaseccc: Youtube is worth a lot more than 1.6 billion now obviously. But it is interesting that the price point is so similar.

See, I think Twitch is already terrible and if the YouTube people can come in they can fix their broken player. YouTube has one of the best players on the internet, especially when it comes to internet live stream archives. We see it every week here on Giant Bomb; Patrick does Bombin' in the AM and 2 seconds after the livestream is finished it's up on his channel, archived and ready to go with bascially no buffering. Twitch could learn a lot, while it's a cool service I think it's a pretty bad website.

Twitch archives videos WHILE they're being made. Every half hour, while the video is still being streamed, a chunk of it becomes watchable immediately.

Don't like the idea of google controlling everything. And since they haven't fixed anything with youtube in regards to improving the quality of the videos, I highly doubt this will improve the quality for twitch. Its a great move for twitch, but I don't see how anyone who actually uses twitch benefits.

Oh fuck...that's right ;_;.

I still think it's more bewildering.

At least the integration is retreating.

Here's the weird thing about all this. Twitch pretty much runs on the same tech that powers justin.tv right (albeit heavily modified)? If what they are after is the live streaming capabilities and not just Twitch being a streaming platform for games, wouldn't it make more sense to buy justin.tv? Also my other fear is that if Twitch does become part of Youtube/Google, they'd end up ditching their IRC-based chat in favor of that abomination of a "chat" that is actually just the comment section with "auto-refresh with new comments" activated by default. Fuck, that thing was horrendous.

Also on another note, does justin.tv still have some ties with Twitch? I know they're are run separately now but I'm just checking if they are somehow still affiliated.

It's a bit far-fetched, but it would be nice if Twitch can use Google/Youtube's infrastructure because Twitch's connection speed isn't great for us international users.

I guess that Twitch is still technically a property of Justin.tv. The best case scenario is that Twitch can still act as it is but under Google/YouTube's infrastructure for optimized networking. I do agree on YouTube's terrible live chat system.

In a way, I feel like YouTube is taking the easy way out with this possible acquisition instead of making a better user interface for their own service. They are not making it appealing to anyone. While YT is more universal in terms of what type of content is going out, the gaming sector could have been substantially beneficial. Competition wise, this can be super significant in a time where Twitch is pretty much the place to stream games; It would have been more exciting if UStream was still relevant but they are now just a place you can smoke, drink, physically/emotionally abuse or soapbox through your PS4, unless you live in Japan.