According to a report published by The Wall Street Journal, YouTube and its parent Google are some of the companies interested in acquiring online video game streaming website Twitch for more than $1 billion.
Though the rumour hasn’t been confirmed by either party, the document itself cites two employees close to the currently ongoing discussion as sources, who claim that the talks are at an early stage. Moreover, it’s understood that Twitch evaluated potential offers from a variety of companies such as Microsoft, as well as bids from other venture capitalists too.
Nevertheless, the potential deal still faces a series of challenges on the journey to full acquisition. If YouTube is to make a move to obtain the platform, the company will be forced to converse with U.S. regulators and the Justice Department on the matter, given that the deal could effectively drown out any competition in the field.
In response, PR representing Twitch have since disputed the report through Twitter, stating that the company doesn’t wish to comment on rumours.
Having launched in 2011, Twitch has grown exponentially to become the go-to online service for live video game streaming. In fact, The Wall Street Journal revealed back in February that the platform accounted for a staggering 1.8 percent of internet traffic in the United States, even surpassing online giants such as Valve and Facebook.
However, should this deal come to fruition, it’ll be interesting how YouTube and indeed Google work out the business-related kinks. For instance, will Twitch remain an autonomous platform for streaming? And how exactly will the now-infamous copyright claims for video game footage — which plagued YouTube personalities late last year — affect the reaction of the site’s loyal content creators?
We’ll keep you posted on this matter as more news appears.