Amazon buys the Twitch game site

Earlier in the year, Google's YouTube
had been reported to be in late-stage
acquisition talks for a similar
amount.
Founded in 2011, Twitch - formerly
known as Twitch.tv - allows users to
watch other people play video
games.
As of July of this year, the service
had over 55 million unique monthly
viewers.
"Broadcasting and watching gameplay
is a global phenomenon and Twitch
has built a platform that brings
together tens of millions of people
who watch billions of minutes of
games each month," said Amazon
chief executive Jeff Bezos in a
statement .
"We look forward to learning from
them and helping them move even
faster to build new services for the
gaming community," he added.
Streaming wars
The move is seen by many analysts
as helping Amazon in its quest to
beat other streaming video sites like
YouTube and Netflix.
Twitch allows users to upload clips of
their game play as well as stream live
games
Twitch allows users to broadcast
snippets of their game play and its
services are built into gaming
platforms like Sony's PlayStation 4
and Microsoft's Xbox One.
Amazon currently offers Prime
subscribers access to streaming
television and movies on its site, and
has recently begun commissioning
original programming - following in
the footsteps of Netflix, which found
success with House of Cards and
Orange is the New Black.
It is one of the company's biggest
acquisitions to date.
More resources
"We chose Amazon because they
believe in our community, they share
our values and long-term vision, and
they want to help us get there
faster," wrote Mr Shear in a letter to
users.
"We're keeping most everything the
same: our office, our employees, our
brand, and most importantly our
independence. But with Amazon's
support we'll have the resources to
bring you an even better Twitch."
Twitch.tv was created as an offshoot
to Justin.tv, which was founded by
Justin Kan and Emmett Shear as a
platform in which Mr Kan could live-
stream his life.
Justin.tv was closed earlier this
month.
Twitch had raised over $35m in
investment from firms such as
Thrive Capital.