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Twitch could be a $20B company within Amazon

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Re: Twitch could be a $20B company within Amazon

#111

This whole industry of game streaming is operating in a gray zone. It's a matter of time before we see some big lawsuits against the streamer and streaming platforms which make a lot of money by publishing the whole content, without any royalties to game developers /publishers. For certain games. it doesn't spoil or ruin the fun factor for viewers, but some others it just removed the incentives to buy a copy of the g…

I read an interview with an indie studio talking about streamers, and in the end they appreciated their presence but resented when the streamers revealed too much of the entire game or did not add enough of their own content. (I think it was the Stanley Parable?)

Re: Twitch could be a $20B company within Amazon

#112
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two additional aspects: 1) Twitch can leverage the core support network that amazon can build Starting from aws - to prime video subscriptions 2) amazon will go strong into tv top as soon as apple and google take it more serious. at that point the got one of the bigger kinds of content under control - similar w/ google and youtube

What makes you think appletv will ever support Amazon video? The iOS app definitely needs chrome cast support.

i didnt mean that

i think for now every of the big players will create their own apps/boxes - i imagine "prime TV"

at some point the fragmentation will annoy customers so much that they will find ways to combine - but that's in 5-10 years

Re: Twitch could be a $20B company within Amazon

#113

What is a good example of a twitch stream to show how great live streaming can be?

My favorite is https://www.twitch.tv/fopt_membrillo. He streams pro Age of Empires 2 tournaments in the crazy Spanish soccer style, and his community (including me) support him enough that it's his full-time job. Full-time AoE2 streamer in 2016??? I think that's amazing.

An example of a crazy moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrxXKK8oIyE

Re: Twitch could be a $20B company within Amazon

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The most popular games on Twitch are not story driven though.

My comment wasn't only targeting Twitch, nor only live streaming. Just take for example all those YouTube channels where you can access a replay of a whole game on demand. I just did a couple of weeks ago with the latest Resident Evil HD remaster because I was fond of this game I played back in 1996. I thought about buying a copy. I wanted to revisit it. Well not anymore. I just skipped through the important cinemati…

For me its the opposite. I watch the start of a playthough and if I find it interesting, then I get the game, when otherwise I would not have given it a try.

I think that game companies are more thrilled about free advertising to people like me then they are worried about people like you... at least for now. If that balance shifts, things might get ugly.

Re: Twitch could be a $20B company within Amazon

#115

My 9 year old son would rather watch people play minecraft than actually play it. I'm not talking about competitive or pro play (if that even exists for minecraft) - just people goofing around. Potentially just an enormous new business for games. I still can't get my head around it. It's like his version of cartoons.

It's not really a new phenomena. Look back in the 70s or 80s with arcades, people would stand around watching their friends play. Then later young people went to each others houses and played video games (mostly multiplayer but some single player and watched). It's entertaining watching how other people do things. They might play differently than how you would play it.

Ha, I remember those days all too well...there would be a big crowd around the best players of PacMan, Defender or what have you...you would have to work your way in there, or be tall enough to look over peoples shoulders, to see what was going on.

Re: Twitch could be a $20B company within Amazon

#116
post #2

Amazon bought two things with Twitch: 1) A social community 2) a monetization model. The video service itself is secondary. The past several years has shown the social communities grow organically. But its hard to make users adopt one. If you build it, they probably won't come. It's easier for a big company to buy one up than start one from scratch. (Think Instagram versus Google Plus). Second, Twitch is one of the f…

> The active engagement of Twitch viewers can often help boost sales for games that prove popular among live streams. Can users purchase games (from Amazon) directly through Twitch? Amazon could offer streamers a referral cut, too.

That seems like posing a real challenge for Amazon, simply because the entire PC game market belongs within reasonable margin of error to Valve, via Steam. I don't know as much on the console side, but the impression I have is that that's moving more toward digital delivery as well, via the various console manufacturers' storefronts. Not sure how Amazon would be able to find a meaningful entry into that particular market.

Re: Twitch could be a $20B company within Amazon

#117

This whole industry of game streaming is operating in a gray zone. It's a matter of time before we see some big lawsuits against the streamer and streaming platforms which make a lot of money by publishing the whole content, without any royalties to game developers /publishers. For certain games. it doesn't spoil or ruin the fun factor for viewers, but some others it just removed the incentives to buy a copy of the g…

I read an interview with an indie studio talking about streamers, and in the end they appreciated their presence but resented when the streamers revealed too much of the entire game or did not add enough of their own content. (I think it was the Stanley Parable?)

Well, stanley parable is basically reading a book. Sure you move through the level, but once you see it, you've basically seen it. I personally have bought multiple games because I see streamers playing them (Dead by Daylight is my most recent).

Re: Twitch could be a $20B company within Amazon

#118

My 9 year old son would rather watch people play minecraft than actually play it. I'm not talking about competitive or pro play (if that even exists for minecraft) - just people goofing around. Potentially just an enormous new business for games. I still can't get my head around it. It's like his version of cartoons.

It's not really a new phenomena. Look back in the 70s or 80s with arcades, people would stand around watching their friends play. Then later young people went to each others houses and played video games (mostly multiplayer but some single player and watched). It's entertaining watching how other people do things. They might play differently than how you would play it.

>It's entertaining watching how other people do things. They might play differently than how you would play it.

I don't really think this is the appeal

Re: Twitch could be a $20B company within Amazon

#119
post #6

It's worth noting that in the 2 year period since Amazon bought Twitch, their search interest via Google has been stagnant. https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=2014-08-25%202016...

twitch is twitch. Who really searches for Twitch, instead of just visiting the site and searching for content there?

Do you not know seemingly endless amounts of people who visit every site by googling the name?

Re: Twitch could be a $20B company within Amazon

#120

This whole industry of game streaming is operating in a gray zone. It's a matter of time before we see some big lawsuits against the streamer and streaming platforms which make a lot of money by publishing the whole content, without any royalties to game developers /publishers. For certain games. it doesn't spoil or ruin the fun factor for viewers, but some others it just removed the incentives to buy a copy of the g…

Game developers are fine with streaming/youtube. They see it as advertising. These days it's common for streamers and youtubers to be sponsored by major developers. Nintendo is the only company that tried to stop it and they backed off after a major backlash.
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