Live data from Hacker News

YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

variety.com

71–80 of 245 posts

Re: YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

#71
post #14

My son watches a lot of Starcraft tournaments on Twitch and his immediate response was that YouTube might actually improve the infrastructure so that they could handle streaming to everyone who wants to watch.

Maybe it's just me, but I associate YouTube video with buffering, overcompression, and popups.

Re: YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

#72
post #65
post #14

My son watches a lot of Starcraft tournaments on Twitch and his immediate response was that YouTube might actually improve the infrastructure so that they could handle streaming to everyone who wants to watch.

Their infrastructure is good enough, they're able to stream to 180k+ viewers in HD without problems.

Big tournaments often refuse HD connections and revert to 720p or 480p ... it's not our Internet connection.

Re: YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

#74
post #67

Compared to recent other aquisitions, 1 billion somehow seems like a bargain. Twitch has clear potential to play an important role in the future in TV and entertainment. Compare that to i.e. Snapchat...

[deleted]

Presently, yes. However, it does not have the same long-term potential as Twitch. Snapchat is ephemeral, a trend.

Re: YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IF this is true, I would think a lot of due diligence and legal counsel was discussed before moving forward. Especially with a deal this size. And if that's the case, perhaps YouTube would be adopting Twitch's less restrictive copyright policies. Because otherwise, what else would YouTube get out of Twitch?

Ha. Your naiveté is cute. This deal is all about buying out the competition. It's not about streaming. Youtube could have streaming if they wanted to, without the 1B.

Exactly. It's about owning the market and removing a potential competitor who saps money from YouTube.

It's a smart move for Google.

Re: YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

#76
Here's an idea: Google buys Twitch and shuts it down. Thus making people go directly to YouTube to stream.

But something more realistic is they buy Twitch and then integrate it into YouTube so everyone has to use YouTube to stream everything. Smart.

Re: YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

#77

Semi-related question... Do you know who came up with an idea of allowing companies to own other companies (and when)?

Probably at the same time corporations were granted legal personhood.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood

Re: YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget Kamcord, the other player in this space (and another YC company). Twitch isn't everything.

I'm an avid gamer and this is the first time I've heard about Kamcord, so that's must mean something.

that promoting an application is hard?

Re: YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion?

#80
It's interesting that YouTube is acquiring Twitch and not Google. I realize that's sort of a smallish point, but it's interesting how that might be announced officially. Google obviously owns YouTube, but in terms of branding and identity and control, it's interesting.
Post reply on HN