Twitch bolsters service with game tech company purchase

SAN FRANCISCO: Amazon-owned video game broadcasting platform Twitch bolstered its service Tuesday with the purchase of a US company that targets media and technology to gamers.
Twitch did not disclose financial terms of the deal to acquire Curse, which has an array of game-focused websites and apps that it says draw a total of 30 million visitors monthly.



"We've long been fans of Curse, which is an innovator in the games industry with a strong culture built around its offerings," Twitch chief executive Emmett Shear said in a release.
Along with gaming websites, news, videos, guides and databases, Curse is known for chat software that lets gamers communicate online as they compete in "eSports" using desktop computers.



"I'm really excited to see how we can bring Curse services into the Twitch network," said Curse chief executive Hubert Thieblot.
US online retail giant Amazon snatched up Twitch and its huge audience for live-streamed gaming in 2014.
The purchase was one of the largest in Amazon's history -- $970 million in cash for the three-year-old internet company.
Twitch claims the crown as the world's leading social video platform for gamers, with more than 100 million people using the service to watch and discuss play being streamed live or on-demand.
Twitch.tv lets anyone broadcast game related content and allows them to connect with publishers or advertisers.



More than 20,00 people attended last year's TwitchCon gathering of "broadcasters" and publishers, and nearly two million more watched it online, according to the San Francisco-based pioneering game-play streaming service.