Rumor: Youtube to acquire Twitch

because I loved how google handled copyright algorithm software :(

What, no. Please, no.

Or at least keep the servers separate. Twitch is one of the extremely few western video streaming sites still accessible from China.

You can pry it from my cold, dead hands.

I don't mind this acquisition but Google needs to seriously sort out their Content ID issues before they can do this. Obviously music licensing contracts are poorly thought out, the music licensed for the game should cover footage of the game. The game companies know from experience now that footage of their games often helps the sales. If their game is shown in a negative light in a video, the negative points are probably the same ones that are being called out by professional reviewers. We have even seen bad games like Deadly Premonition increase in sales due to long format video revealing all the fun quirkiness hidden beneath the jank.

Google has to go to bat for their content producers otherwise there will be no game content and no reason for them to buy Twitch in the first place.

I bet there is a decent argument to be made that exposure to a game's soundtrack through a Let's Play video can lead to viewers purchasing the OST or licensed music featured in the video even if they never play the game themselves.

@cybexx: Deadly Premonition is not a bad game, low budget and lacking in polish sure, but not bad.

I hope this will just turn out to be a rumor, i dont always like twitch, but i prefer them greatly over anything google.

It'd be a great benefit to Twitch if they did get bought by YouTube/Google. Google has the servers which Justin TV just cannot support anymore as Twitch continues to grow into a huge site which seems to be getting crushed by its own weight right now. I feel like if they do get bought they'll only take on Google's policies not YouTube's, it probably won't be surfaced on YouTube or use YouTube's player/codec/anything, but will probably use YouTube's server stuff or whatever keeps YouTube from exploding with how many clicks it gets.

Well. It was fun while it lasted.

@koolaid: It probably doesn't need to be bought. But if Google rolled up with a truck full of a billion dollars for your product, are you going to say no? That's going to equate to a massive payout to whoever owns Twitch and was likely the reason they owned it in the first place.

Remember, Google didn't make Youtube. Three dudes who used to work at Paypal made Youtube. Google just came along with the offer of a lifetime and instantly made those guys millionaires by buying Youtube for $1.6B

This thread has taught me that people apparently really hate Google these days.

This could be bad what with how awful Youtubes copyright thing has become. Mainly, I guess, the problem stems from music, but man if that folds over into twitch you can say goodbye to anyone trying to start out making videos online anymore.

I don't know, we'll see. I just haven't been so cool with Youtubes copyright checking automation stuff. It was never good before, but it got horrendous when they got that new system in place.

People who don't mind Google + integration are probably the same people that didn't mind Steam games with Games For Windows Live integration. It's just an extra, unnecessary step that has to constantly be taken for no tangible benefit.

Just because I can do something doesn't mean I should have to.

I noticed last year that YouTube was able to shut down and delete my YouTube livestream of Wind Waker whilst I was streaming it out live and in glorious 1080p.

So, yeah. Imagine Twitch with live, realtime copyright strikes and takedowns.

@humanity: No one hates Google, Google is great and has done some awesome stuff.

It's just SUPER WORRYING how fast it is eating up and monopolizing major parts of the internet. Google owns all our information, all our favorite websites and when or if they turn evil, we are fucked!

Also Google+ kinda sucks but whatever.

The dark cyber-punk future is finally upon us.

I only have one thing to say. I dont really care, as long as twitch is still its own thing and they completely redesign the video player. God that thing fucking sucks.

I think over the past six months, Google has made it clear they don't have interest in protecting gamers, so this definitely makes me worried. Hopefully twitch can remain a separate site and just benefit from the additional resources Google can bring. But I think we all know that won't happen.

If this happens, the Twitch name is probably maintained for about a year or two, and eventually changed to something like "YouTube Games", or "YouTube Play", or some ostensibly Google-implying name.

I'm okay with such a deal. I only use Twitch for Giant Bomb and rare few edge-cases.

If the YouTube levels of copyright would eventually translate to Twitch, maybe the community uproar that would inevitably ensue would have Google find a better way to do this crap - after all, no one gets angry in the internet like "gamers" do. But the notion of imposing those draconian copyright regulations on Twitch sounds ill-advised, as it would most likely provoke a crippling mass exodus to some other streaming service.

While I can see possible benefits for Twitch (acquiring some more stable servers... maybe), I really don't like the idea of Google having control over two of the largest user-created video sites out there right now. The Google+ integration on Youtube that nobody asked for and nobody wanted, and the ongoing problems with Content ID matches have me a bit wary.

It's difficult to envision Twitch being run by a completely different company, but I believe that simply being owned by Google would change the way it has to run regardless of intention. That and the fact that I doubt they'd be buying out Twitch for any reason other than to have it make as much money as possible for them... Thankfully this is all just speculation so far.

Hey man they have an amazing infrastructure so if the entire internet is going to work as well as Google based sites then bring on the evil overwatch. I detest Twitch as it is because it always hitches up for me no matter what quality I set it to.

Well this sure is fucking terrible news to wake up to.

Yet another shitty Google endeavour I will not use.

@humanity: Contrary to what TobbRobb said, I think people are actually expressing "hate" for Google. And they're for the some of the same reasons he even mentioned in his reply to you. lol

Of course, hate is a very strong word, but it seems that many people do dislike them.

Nope sounds like you aren't missing a thing.

The rumor that AT&T is going to buy DirectTV is far bigger news than this but heheh. Twitch is only good for streams, for anything else it sucks. Youtube is really not that bad on the copyright stuff, i have had tons of videos flagged and I just filed a claim saying why it shouldn't have been and low and behold I have won every time. Just don't let major licensed music play in your videos, and if you do, make sure it is from the game only. Most of the time if you just do commentary over your video and you lower gameplay volume so your commentary is clearly over the song you will have no issues at all.

@xyzygy: I don't equate common sense and caution to hate. But I dunno, maybe some people here really do feel hate for them even if they are only leaning towards becoming the BIG BAD GOOGLE so far.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now, but can't say I'd be too surprised if I'll be punished for that.

I think Google has learned from the YouTube catastrophes. I like Google. Who doesn't? But I hate monster corporations. Google frequently finds itself walking a line when it comes to being on the side of the free people and the money making conglomerate that they are. I, like I'm sure many others, would like to believe that they will come through and side for a free internet. I hope they don't destroy Twitch and begin the mayhem that was YouTube at the turning of this year.

I look forward to Patrick's opinion on this, hopefully today.

That's why I'm worried, this is being bought by YouTube and will fall under their CEO.

Finally, me and @jeff can live out Our Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy of being gunned down at night by a drone swarm on the rain-slick streets of NEOTOKYO in 2020.

NEVER FORGET

Ah, the article I read mistakenly billed Google as the buyer. Still, Google is largely responsible for YouTube unfortunately.

The irony that you won't realize until your final moment is that it was I who was in charge of the drones!

There goes google buying up any sort of competition again...

There's a term for someone that compulsively buys things it doesn't need. google is a hoarder.

That's the biggest problem.

And I now have you to "blame" for discovering this....http://www.ustream.tv/channel/batman3030-s-ps4-live-show

@jesus_phish: To be clear, when I asked if they needed to be bought, I was wondering if staying independent and continuing to grow on their own was a better course of action then accepting that truck load of money. I think services like Twitch are the future, and they seem to be top of their field. It's the difference between becoming a millionaire now and (maybe) becoming the head of a media empire later.

Could not be any worse ... at least in germany. Twitch is a f-ing terrible service over here.

A deal this big would have to go through SEC approval. I honestly don't think it could make it through SEC scrutiny. (Although the point of Capitalism is to build a successful small company and then be bought out by a super-corporation for an immeasurable amount of money.)

@dudeglove: let he who is without sin throw the first hyperlink

The only surprising thing here is its only going for 1Billion

You could get half of Red Lobster for that money!

I'm not too sure about this. I was on YouTube from the beginning and I've watched over the years how Google has totally fucked it up in so many ways. I guess if you are just going there to watch videos it's not so bad, but if you are someone like me who actually is part of a community there and makes contacts and tries to keep up with people it's a damn nightmare. If they do to Twitch what they did to YouTube within the last few years, Twitch is pretty much dead.

If this turns out to be true I really hope that Google does the right thing and leaves Twitch alone and helps them out financially rather than trying to integrate it into Google + and/or "re-designing" it, but given Google's track record of destroying every site they touch I'm not so confident in that.....

Like several others have said already, I can see some good coming from this. YouTube (google) definitely has the money to make Twitch a lot better than it currently is. The biggest fear is all of the content id crap that Google has put on YouTube.

I don't see how they could do this though as it would completely kill Twitch as a service and people would just flock elsewhere. It's obvious that services like this are a viable business as this segment of the market continues to grow rapidly. If Google screws up Twitch I can guarantee someone else will come in and offer what gamers want, both from creating to viewing the streams.

Yeah, I have a feeling we'll be going back to Justin.tv or Ustream until something better comes along. The only way Google can do this right is to LEAVE TWITCH ALONE and just improve their infrastructure and give them the financial backing they need. Any more than that and Twitch is done.

@dudeglove: Sweet. Everything is happening faster than predicted. Oh well, we had a good run guys. Time to go live in mud huts.

It's seems kind of preposterous, the idea that a Google would spend billions to acquire Twitch and then dismantle the core factors that give it any worth whatsoever.

A content-censored/hindered Twitch.tv is worthless. Literally worthless.

Let's just relax and see what happens.

@humanity said:

You are the best.

@liquidprince said:

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?

Why do you think Facebook bought Instagram? Facebook is primarily a photo sharing site (though it may not seem so at first glance, that's what drives most of their traffic), and Instagram's rising popularity worried them. So, they through a bunch of cash into a briefcase, tossed it at them, and made their problem go away. Plain and simple.

You know how the Internet is though. Something happens and everyone blows they testicles.

#yournextbook?

I don't particularly care for the technology behind Twitch, so as long as that is the focus and not the actual content, I'm all for Google's involvement. I would worry for the ramification on IP infringement under a large corporation, though, not because they're evil but because they attract scrutiny.

If you haven't see it yet, TotalBiscuit weighs in on the YouTube/Twitch thing.

Google has done dumber things in the past. It wouldn't surprise me if they did. They probably won't do that right away, but there is a good chance it will happen down the line, a lot like what they did with YouTube already.