Amazon is rebranding Twitch as Prime gaming, scrapping the original name of the streaming site and bring the platform under its Prime entertainment umbrella. From today on, the new service will be known as Prime Gaming.
Amazon acquired Twitch back in 2014, but the platform was pretty much unchanged ever since as Emmett Shear, the founder of Twitch, continued as the CEO of Twitch under Amazon. Even the tough the name is changing, the essential service will remain the same. Any offers, benefits and memberships that subscribers paid for will still stand.
Additionally, Amazon will offer free games and in-game content to prime members. New in-game content on Prime Gaming is available for “Grand Theft Auto Online,” “Red Dead Online,” “Apex Legends,” “EA Sports FIFA 20,” “League of Legends” and more than 20 other titles. Amazon is also giving away free games this month to Prime members can download and keep forever.
“Prime Gaming offers members all of the growing gaming benefits they had with Twitch Prime, but now as one of the core entertainment benefits of Prime,” a spokesperson from Amazon said while announcing the change.
“Prime members already get the best of TV, movies, and music, and now we’re expanding our entertainment offerings to include the best of gaming,” Prime Gaming general manager Larry Plotnick (formerly GM of Twitch Prime) said in a statement. “We’re giving customers new content that makes playing their favourite games on every platform even better. So no matter what kind of games you love, and no matter where you play them, they’ll be even better with Prime Gaming.”
The change will be nothing more than a cosmetic shift for streamers and viewers. But in the larger scheme of things, it showcases Amazon’s growing commitment in the gaming industry. Amazon also owns a studio, called Amazon Games but they are dedicated to mobile games rather than AAA titles at the moment.
The rebrand strongly suggests that Prime Gaming is a gaming streaming service. However, in the past few years, Twitch has been expanding beyond the horizons of gaming. As of late, while gaming still dominates Twitch, a lot of non-gaming streamers have also claimed sanctuary on Twitch. These channels feature little to no gaming content and focus on categories such as Music, Fitness or just chatting.
Will they be removed from the platform, forced to feature gaming related content and experience no change at all under the new rebranding? That remains to be seen.