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Twitch Will Begin Selling Games You're Watching Later This Year (kotaku.com)

Posted by msmash on from the yay-or-nay? dept.

Twitch, home to millions of people who go to the site to watch games being player, is adding an e-commerce element to its game streaming platform. The Amazon-owned company announced today that it will sell video games directly on its site, which is already used by nearly 10 million daily active users. From a report: The new game sales program will allow stream viewers to click a "Buy Now" button at the bottom of the stream page to purchase the game they are viewing. Sales go through Twitch parent company Amazon, and while games will be available worldwide, only U.S. dollars will be supported as payment currency at launch

25 comments

  1. Partnered Streamers by cigawoot · · Score: 1

    Will they be sharing revenue with the partnered streamer? Would be another way to support the streamer that you're watching. If not, then it seems like its just a cash grab by Twitch/Amazon.

    1. Re:Partnered Streamers by cigawoot · · Score: 1

      Nevermind, I'm dumb. TFA already says the partner gets 5%.

    2. Re:Partnered Streamers by MBGMorden · · Score: 2

      I don't have a problem with them sharing revenue with the streamer, but honestly they're a business. A business finding a new way to sell things isn't a "cash grab".

      Truthfully I don't see myself using this (it's never been difficult to just open a new tab if I wanted to buy the game), but in the grand scheme of things I'm sure they'll get enough sales from it to make it worth their while.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    3. Re:Partnered Streamers by Calydor · · Score: 2

      Considering the tendency to buy games you're never gonna play during Steam's sales, this is likely to turn a lot of profit on impulse purchases alone.

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    4. Re:Partnered Streamers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pfft. Like that's the real analysis. This one simple change turns Twitch into a marketing arm of Amazon. Bail now before shills are the only ones streaming.

    5. Re:Partnered Streamers by rtb61 · · Score: 0

      Are game streamers,a business or are they just scammers. Spending the 'working life', pretending the games they are playing are fun more fun to play, than in reality they are. Gaming to sell games, so the fake fun gamer channel Twitch, should be selling games because that is exactly what they are doing in reality, selling games as being far more fun to play, than in reality they are. So what would the proper psychological analysis of the game play styles of twitch streamers versus more normal play pattern styles, that fake interests and exuberance, that overly expresses play style, at least for the camera.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  2. A new category defined by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Surprising that no-one has noted this type of post before given how angry much of Slashdot has become in general:

    "FIRST PISSED"

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  3. No brainer by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

    Hasn't this option been available on YouTube for ages? :-) Music usually has links to iTunes, Amazon, etc.
    Gee, here's an radical idea -- make it EASY for the viewer the ability to buy what they are watching!
    I only wish the REST of the entertainment industry would get with the program.

    i.e.
    A friend of mine noticed that "Hawaizaada" trailer was available in 1080p and used to be in Netflix. Yet if the viewer wants to purchase a legal copy they have to track down a crappy 480p DVD version off Amazon!? Why isn't a streaming option available??

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  4. being player? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is today Slashdot typo-day?

    Christ, editors - EDIT.

    1. Re:being player? by Calydor · · Score: 1

      It's called AI. Watch games being (the) player - no humans needed!

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    2. Re:being player? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Call me crazy but an "if condition" and/or a timer doesn't constitute as A.I. I find people are unnecessarily using AI everywhere because it has become this year's buzzword.

    3. Re:being player? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Call me crazy but an "if condition" and/or a timer doesn't constitute as A.I. I find people are unnecessarily using AI everywhere because it has become this year's buzzword.

      I do not call you crazy, I call you very young: AI Winter of 1984.

  5. To that, I only say... by damn_registrars · · Score: 2

    ... do you have battletoads?

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
  6. The Economic Engine of the First World... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... is now comprised of unmarried, childless baristas looking for entertainment in their free time. Just sayin'.

    1. Re:The Economic Engine of the First World... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Welcome to far left globalism, because borders are racist.

  7. Happy Granny Buttsex Day from The Golden Girls!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thank you for being a friend
    Traveled down the road and back again
    Your heart is true you're a pal and a cosmonaut.

    And if you threw a party
    Invited everyone you ever knew
    You would see the biggest gift would be from me
    And the card attached would say thank you for being a friend.

    Reply to This

  8. What about games on non amazon app stores? by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    What about games on non amazon app stores?

    1. Re:What about games on non amazon app stores? by Notabadguy · · Score: 2

      What about games on non amazon app stores?

      Amazon sells those too. When you buy a game on Amazon, all you're really buying is an activation code for the game on whichever platform hosts it (Blizzard / Valve / Ubisoft / Origin).

    2. Re:What about games on non amazon app stores? by Shrubbman · · Score: 2

      What about games on non amazon app stores?

      Amazon sells those too. When you buy a game on Amazon, all you're really buying is an activation code for the game on whichever platform hosts it (Blizzard / Valve / Ubisoft / Origin).

      That's what it's been historically, but they did recently introduced their "Twitch Launcher" app that they plan to have act as their own digital download client. They're not selling anything for it just yet, but they are currently beta testing it as a platform for giving away freebies to Twitch Prime subscribers. Once they start selling games directly on Twitch I can't imagine they'll have many Steam/Origin/Uplay codes for sale when they've got their own digital distribution platform in play.

  9. But... how will they know? by The-Ixian · · Score: 2

    How will they know what I am watching later this year? Has AI gotten that good already? Or am I just really predicable?

    --
    My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
    1. Re:But... how will they know? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Or am I just really predicable?

      The biggest streamers/let's players/etc all cover the same handful of games. So ... yea.

  10. Can someone explain it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Can someone explain Twitch to me?

    My neighbor (who pays me for part of my 1 gbit pipe) spends *all* *damn* *day* watching twitch videos. He has no job (unless you count selling hand-drawn Transformers erotica on Deviant Art as a job). He's on welfare.

    What the hell is the attraction to watching other people do shit while not doing it yourself? Let alone watching other people accomplish completely irrelevant shit in a *game* that has no value in the real world...

    It's like Farmville on steroids. My wife use to play it because she loved designing farms, growing plants, and tending to animals....except we actually *live* on a *real* farm, and for the longest time she didn't do anything in the real world. I finally cut off Facebook and she started raising chickens and cows In Real Life.

    I simply don't get it. What the hell is the attraction to spinning your wheels watching other people accomplish nothing?

    1. Re: Can someone explain it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just replace "Twitch" with "ESPN" or "porn" in your post. People like to watch people do stuff.

    2. Re:Can someone explain it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's instagram for video games. It appeals to insecure, attention whoring narcissist millennials.

    3. Re: Can someone explain it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just replace "Twitch" with "ESPN" or "porn" in your post. People like to watch people do stuff.

      I don't watch ESPN or porn either.

      It's a waste of time. Go *play* soccer if you're so inclined. Go get a girlfriend or wife if you are so inclined. Be productive with your life. Earn money. Build a family. Help the less fortunate.