Report: YouTube to Buy Twitch For $1 Billion - Update

[Steven Bogos]

Report: YouTube to Buy Twitch For $1 Billion - Update

Variety reports that the all-cash offer is expected to be announced imminently.

Update 2: The Wall Street Journal [http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304422704579570601736756672?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304422704579570601736756672.html] has stated that Twitch and YouTube are in "early talks" about a possible acquisition - a far cry from the "imminent" announcement Variety initially reported.

Source: Wall Street Journal [http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304422704579570601736756672?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304422704579570601736756672.html]

Update: Twitch has replied to our request with the bog standard "we don't comment on rumors," PR reply. Still waiting on a response from YouTube.

Original Story: According to some of Variety [http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/youtube-to-acquire-videogame-streaming-service-twitch-for-1-billion-sources-1201185204/]'s "sources close to the pact," popular video streaming conglomerate YouTube has just done a deal to purchase Twitch.tv - the live streaming service popular with video gamers - for a crazy $1 billion dollars.

YouTube and Twitch are expected to announce the all-cash offer "imminently," sources said, and if true, would make for the most significant acquisition in the history of YouTube. It's certainly a very crazy amount of money, but given that Twitch is number one in its field, and has been steadily growing over the years with crazy social experiments like Twitch Plays Pokemon [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/132889-Twitch-Plays-Pokemon-Interview-TPP-Will-Continue-on-to-Emerald], it seems fair.

Although, that may be more of a detriment than a positive, according to the source. Apparently, Google's lawyers are ready for a challenge from the Justice Department on the grounds of competition issues, given the fact that both services are already number one in their respective fields.

YouTube was acquired by Google back in 2006, and the impending acquisition comes after longtime Google ad exec Susan Wojcicki was named CEO of the video streaming service earlier this year.

YouTube had been experimenting with it's own live streaming options, so it doesn't come as a surprise that they would opt to simply buy the most popular option rather than further develop their own alternative (anyone remember Google video?).

We've reached out to YouTube and Twitch for comment.

Source: Variety [http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/youtube-to-acquire-videogame-streaming-service-twitch-for-1-billion-sources-1201185204/]

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[Shamanic Rhythm]

Great, even less alternatives to Youtube's insane copyright enforcement policies.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

No. Seriously, fuck no. What is possibly Twitch's biggest selling point right now to both creators and audiences is that it does not have to deal with Youtube's horribly broken "shoot first, ask questions later"-style copyright system where people have to fear false ContentID claims, getting videos easily removed by anyone with a keyboard (regardless of if the claimant actually owns the IP or not), and having to fight a difficult uphill battle to get everything restored afterwards. Youtube owning it would be one of the worst things that could happen to Twitch's userbase.

 

[LordMonty]

Monopoly red alert to be honest, youtube is a beast already. And yes screw off with youtube's copyright BS, all of this stinks and I hope it falls through.

 

[Vivi22]

Starting to be about time to chop up Google into different little pieces and bring the regulation hammer down on preventing sales like this.

 

[Andy Shandy]

This is how the world ends, not with a bang but a Kappa.

[sub]I suppose there's still a bang.[/sub]

Anyway,if it's true, I suppose this is a good payday for Twitch, and good for YouTube, since it means they don't really have to work to improve their own stuff, but I can't see this being anything but bad for users, in the main. Thinking ContentID, Google Plus integration, all that fucking annoying shit that people went to Twitch to get away from.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I thought people moved to Twitch precisely to get away from Youtube's draconian policies. If so, this sucks for them.

 

[Alfador_VII]

This is the worst thing possible, horribly buggy Twitch streaming, combined with dumb Youtube content policies.

Shame there's no real alternative for either streaming or video hosting

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

And with the imminent death of net neutrality, the chances that somebody else will come forth and establish a new independent streaming service are slim to none.
But it's hard to say no to a billion dollars. I'd probably sell out too.

Valve might be able to do something for Steam and save the PC gamers once more.

 

[Brian Tams]

Twitch is becoming a serious threat to Youtube's consumer base, and google knows it. Instead of trying to improve youtube to compete better with Twitch, they instead just throw money at it and assimilate it into their broken ass system.

This is how a monopoly starts.

 

[klaynexas3]

God...god dammit. No. Just...just no. In fact, can we have the supreme court check this one out? I mean seriously, at this point, is it not technically a monopoly on live streaming sites? How many others are out there? I know there's probably something I'm missing, but I'm just...god dammit.

 

[Roxas1359]

For dear god don't let this happen. This would be the worst thing to ever happen for Streamers because of YouTube's bullshit copyright laws. I really hope this doesn't happen.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Are we running into a tech bubble again?

I mean, big companies are suddenly acquiring smaller ones for enormous (inflated) sums of money, for seemingly no reason beyond wanting to 'enter markets'. Where's the return on the investment going to come from? Are they all expecting explosive growth for the next five years or something?

I feel like I'm in 1998 again...

 

[Glaice]

"Do no evil" my ass, Google. That motto no longer applies to you no more. This is just another nail in your coffin.

 

[Something Amyss]

Apparently, Google decided there was no way to screw YouTube up further and decided to try and ruin another service.

 

[Tien Shen]

I can so see it now, Twitch banning streamers for playing music without copyright permission. A lot of twitch streamers play music on their streams, some even have request lists from their viewers. If Youtube/Google enforces the same retarded DMCA mechanisms on Twitch, goodbye twitch.

 

[scorptatious]

As much as I like using Youtube, (I'm simply a viewer, so I don't really worry about the way Youtube handles copyright), I can't really say I agree with this.

Are we running into a tech bubble again?

I mean, big companies are suddenly acquiring smaller ones for enormous (inflated) sums of money, for seemingly no reason beyond wanting to 'enter markets'. Where's the return on the investment going to come from? Are they all expecting explosive growth for the next five years or something?

I feel like I'm in 1998 again...

What exactly happened in 98? I was pretty small at the time, so I didn't pay attention to that stuff.

Just curious.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

ill be hilarious to see every single stream being struck down with copyright claims

oh, and prepare for a progressively worse service just like youtube