Gameitall Twitch and Amazon have announced that they are partnering with multiple game developers and studios to sell games directly on the massively popular streaming service. Viewers tuning into a stream will see a purchase button which will appear under the video allowing players to pick up the game and download it from the Twitch Launcher or through existing platforms like UPlay.
A decent amount of publishers are already on board with the program, as Twitch announced that games from the following developers will be available as part of this new Games Commerce system. This includes: Ubisoft, Telltale Games, Digital Extremes, Hi Rez Studios, Double Fine Games, Fred Wood, 11Bit, Jackbox Games, tinyBuild, Raw Fury, Devolver Digital, Gambitious, Trion Worlds, Blue Mammoth Games, iNK Stories, Versus Evil, Proletariat, Paradox Interactive, Vlambeer and Campo Santo.
When potential buyers purchase the game directly off a stream, they also have the chance to back the streamer. Partnered Streamers will receive 5% of the purchase price of the game, plus viewers who buy will receive a digital Twitch Crate that contains a randomly generated reward like an emote, badges, or Bits for Cheering.
This is an interesting move on Amazon’s part who purchased Twitch back in 2014, as this will put them in direct competition against Valve and their digital storefront Steam. Non-surprisingly, Valve is missing from the list above, leaving two of the more popular games on the streaming service, DOTA2 and Counter Strike: Global Offensive, not available for purchase via Twitch. Riot Games, the creators of League of Legends, are also missing from this list.
Streamers are torn about the new project, as some are happy for a new way to earn revenue while streaming, others are worried this will affect how streamers present the game in order to coax more people into purchasing the game, increasing their revenue.
What do you think of the new Game Commerce system, leave a message in the comments! For more on the new system, check out the Twitch Blog where they go into greater detail.
