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

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Bat Vader

Elite Member
Mar 11, 2009
4,997
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If Google was smart they would not change anything with Twitch and let it run independently. If they try and apply their strict YouTube rules on Twirch I feel like many users will go to a different streaming site which will end up hurting Google.
 

ZZoMBiE13

Ate My Neighbors
Oct 10, 2007
1,908
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Remus said:
We are Google. Your lawyers will cease and you will submit to assimilation or be destroyed. Your uniqueness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile.
Logooglus?


I wish Google would put some of their considerable resources towards something other than owning the internet. I wish they would develop an aerospace enterprise (pun intended) or perhaps invest in off-world mining. Google Mars?

I like Twitch a lot, and I'm not too excited to see them make changes.
 

fix-the-spade

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Feb 25, 2008
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scorptatious said:
What exactly happened in 98? I was pretty small at the time, so I didn't pay attention to that stuff.

Just curious. :p
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble

In 1998 nothing in particular happened, beyond lots of people investing lots of money into things that (with hindsight) were never going to grow, so lots of huge buyouts, lots of floats on the stock exchange, lots of 'we're going to be rich,'

It wasn't until 2000 that the whole market came crashing to the ground, but this feels a bit like 1998, lots of money being thrown around on things that aren't likely to grow forever.

Also, damn you for making me feel really old now!
 

WashAran

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Jun 28, 2012
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Great cant wait to no longer be able to watch certain streams in germany because of the GEMA/Youtube dispute!
 

Hairless Mammoth

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Jan 23, 2013
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What's the anti-trust lawyers and politicians in the US up to now? Picking flowers and smelling Daffodils, paid for by the major corporations they're supposed to watch? First Comcast and Time Warner want to unite like Sauron and Saruman and that looks like it'll get the green light so far, then this and many other deals bad for the average consumer. Buying another business to expand into other markets is (usually) ok, but this is a blatant buyout to stifle competition without Youtube improving its service. Please let this be a bad rumor. Twitch, please be the Frodo of this situation and throw the ring into the fires of Mt. Doom.
Tank207 said:
By saying "we don't comment on rumors" they pretty much confirmed that the rumor is true. If the rumor isn't true, then they only need to say one word when asked, "no". Making vague PR statements does nothing but confirm people's suspicions.

Google is really going all out trying to make sure they either eliminate or purchase all their competition.
Yeah, I hate that blanket statement, too. Especially with a serious subject like monopolistic buyouts. This is not just some dumb old rumor like Nintendo making a new system or Bill Gates buying a small chunk of Apple stock just for kicks. If allowed to happen, this could affect an entire industry for the worst.

Maybe Google will finally start seeing some late 90s Microsoft level anti-trust lawsuits is they keep up crap like this. Fat chance though, with the gov getting really cozy with IT execs(like every other industry's execs) in the past decade.
 

Sofus

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Apr 15, 2011
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For the love of..

Awesome! so rather than fix youtube... google just goes out and buys every alternative that exists. At which point they will probably fuck up twitch aswell.

Just... go... away... google...
 

gittonsxv

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Mar 29, 2011
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is this what is going to happen to the internet?
the biggest sites are bought off to 1 company?
 

CriticalMiss

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Jan 18, 2013
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Glaice said:
"Do no evil" my ass, Google. That motto no longer applies to you no more. This is just another nail in your coffin.
Well that's not true. Taxes are evil, so Google pays no (ok, very little) tax. So it's still at least a bit appropriate.

And I suppose this was kind of inevitable it was just a matter of time before either Google or Amazon bought them and then subsequently run them in to the ground. Hopefully it's just a rumour.
 

Brownie80

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Jan 27, 2014
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MESSAGE: In order to use Twitch, you must first sign in to Facebook-wannabeGoogle+.
So yeah I think this sucks. Hard.
 

Roxas1359

Burn, Burn it All!
Aug 8, 2009
33,758
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Doomsdaylee said:
Welp, there goes the last bastion of LPer's, that was a fun dream while it lasted. Thanks for killing our dreams google!
There's still sites like Game Anyone, so I'm set still, plus I can stream there since I'm a gold member...now to just figure out how exactly I go about streaming there... XP
Really if this deal goes through then I see more people using uStream or something.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
24,756
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gittonsxv said:
is this what is going to happen to the internet?
the biggest sites are bought off to 1 company?
Going to happen? It's been happening for almost a decade now.
 

Mr. Q

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Apr 30, 2013
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I'm hoping this is not the case. Mostly because YouTube hasn't been the same since Google started swinging their weight around and implementing the worst concepts ever to something that didn't need it (Google+, copyright rules that make no sense). If that happens to Twitch, then its going to be another victim of corporate greed and stupidity.
 
Mar 14, 2011
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I don't think this is the end of the world, but I like google? I think that the stuff they build is useful? I dunno why everyone else has such an abhorrent experience with them. That being said, if twitch starts to suck then a new twitch will raise to fill the gap. Thats how the internet works.
 

bluegate

Elite Member
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Dec 28, 2010
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Wow, a lot of whiny children on here, aren't there?

Big sites like Youtube, where people can make money by uploading video's are bound to attract other big companies and their lawyers. Companies like to make money, and if a company finds a video that uses their music, they will want to have a piece of that pie.

Don't hate Google or Youtube because of other companies greed. They are doing the best they can to avoid being sued into oblivion by every record company and film studio out there.
 

GladiatorUA

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Jun 1, 2013
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Strazdas said:
No. Copyright law is causing the problems. According to the law youtube must take down any content thats complained about BEFORE checking if the complaint is legit. thats very fucked up and you can thank Disney for it.
Nope. Google doesn't have to comply with take down request. Problem is, Google is not exactly qualified to decide if complaint is legit without investing a lot of money to hire people who are qualified to such a hellish job and complicated. And if Google doesn't comply, it can get sued.
 

Strazdas

Robots will replace your job
May 28, 2011
8,405
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GladiatorUA said:
Strazdas said:
No. Copyright law is causing the problems. According to the law youtube must take down any content thats complained about BEFORE checking if the complaint is legit. thats very fucked up and you can thank Disney for it.
Nope. Google doesn't have to comply with take down request. Problem is, Google is not exactly qualified to decide if complaint is legit without investing a lot of money to hire people who are qualified to such a hellish job and complicated. And if Google doesn't comply, it can get sued.
so google does not have to comply with takedown request but if it does not it will get sued. that sounds like two opposite statements.
Yes, it would cost a lot for google to decide on that. which is why we need a system where proof of copyright infringement must be put forth BEFORE the takedown request and false claims should have penalties so companies like Nintendo can no longer abuse it like they do now.

CriticalMiss said:
Glaice said:
"Do no evil" my ass, Google. That motto no longer applies to you no more. This is just another nail in your coffin.
Well that's not true. Taxes are evil, so Google pays no (ok, very little) tax. So it's still at least a bit appropriate.

And I suppose this was kind of inevitable it was just a matter of time before either Google or Amazon bought them and then subsequently run them in to the ground. Hopefully it's just a rumour.
Actually, the motto is "dont be evil", not "do no evil", so google clearly fails it.
 

GladiatorUA

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Jun 1, 2013
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Strazdas said:
Nope. Google doesn't have to comply with take down request. Problem is, Google is not exactly qualified to decide if complaint is legit without investing a lot of money to hire people who are qualified to such a hellish job and complicated. And if Google doesn't comply, it can get sued.
so google does not have to comply with takedown request but if it does not it will get sued. that sounds like two opposite statements.
Yes, it would cost a lot for google to decide on that. which is why we need a system where proof of copyright infringement must be put forth BEFORE the takedown request and false claims should have penalties so companies like Nintendo can no longer abuse it like they do now.[/quote]Can get sued.

And submit proof where exactly? Again, google is not qualified to judge. Request is just a formal request. And before actual DMCA, there are several levels of less official requests.

Nintendo didn't exactly abuse anything. Monetization of game footage is a grey area, unless there is a permission, and until court says otherwise, anyone can claim whatever they want. Including Nintendo. Yes, dick move, still a legitimate one.
 

Roxas1359

Burn, Burn it All!
Aug 8, 2009
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GladiatorUA said:
And submit proof where exactly? Again, google is not qualified to judge. Request is just a formal request. And before actual DMCA, there are several levels of less official requests.

Nintendo didn't exactly abuse anything. Monetization of game footage is a grey area, unless there is a permission, and until court says otherwise, anyone can claim whatever they want. Including Nintendo. Yes, dick move, still a legitimate one.
During the time in which a dispute is filed, the people who are flagging the video are supposed to submit legal documentation showing that they own the material in the video that is in question. I say supposed to, but they don't. There is a 30 day period in which the people filing the claim are supposed to respond, and if they don't the claim goes away. Used to be that once the claim expired, or was successfully disputed, that video couldn't be reflagged for the same thing. Sorta like how the 5th Amendment in the U.S Constitution works; however that rule was removed long ago so now you can be flagged for the same thing again, even directly after the claim expired. Not only that, but if your video is monetized, then during that time the revenue generated on that video doesn't go to you, nor does Google hold onto it. No, it goes to the people that filed the claim, even if they don't actually own it. Plus, YouTube's algorithm for applying claims is screwed up because it does it based on single words, to small audio sound clips.

Hell, I got a claim saying I was infringing one someone's copyright on silence. The video in question, by Orchard Music Group, claimed that I used a song by them. The part of the video that was flagged though had no audio at all, neither game audio nor commentary, it was just silence. I thought maybe it was a visual claim instead, which is still wrong because the copyright in question for the video belonged solely to Square Enix, but no it was visual. During that time, Orchard puts ads on the video to try and get revenue, something I don't do since I don't monetize, and they would be getting money for something they didn't own. Google knows that this system is completely broken, hell it was what the court case of Viacom v. Google was all about, but they don't fix it. YouTube often gets DMCA take downs, but even then they just put it in the algorithm to have it be taken care of instead of doing it themselves, and as a result the algorithm screws up and gives strikes and take downs to videos and channels that are innocent. Hell, I remember in December when Angry Joe's interview with the development team from Square Enix for Tomb Raider was flagged...by a company claiming to be Tomb Raider. Yeah, that should show that Google's system is broken badly when it comes to copyright detection and it's handling of it.
 

AzrealMaximillion

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Jan 20, 2010
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Candidus said:
AzrealMaximillion said:
Soviet Heavy said:
I thought people moved to Twitch precisely to get away from Youtube's draconian policies. If so, this sucks for them.
Nah, it more has to do with YouTube's Streaming system being absolutely garbage. You can't just upload videos to Twitch so a lot of YouTube's abhorrent policies don't apply.
You don't have to upload them to Twitch, they're saved in real time. Check "past broadcasts".

So you CAN save videos and the abhorrent policies STILL don't apply for now.
Fair enough, but even TotalBiscuit who recently did a video on this admits that while "Past Broadcasts" are there, Twitch's set up makes it hard to find that tab and thus a lot of users don't know about that :S

I still maintain that people Stream games on Twitch because YouTube Stream is ass in a hat.