Amazon continues to develop its interactive digital platforms. Recently, it announces the subscription rebranding of one of its streaming platforms, Twitch.
Amazon bumps the name for its Twitch subscription, from Twitch Prime to Prime Gaming. The Verge notes that this is a logical approach for the industry giant.
Amazon bids goodbye to Twitch Prime
The official statement was dropped on Monday, as the team behind Twitch unveils Prime Gaming. It is “everything you loved about Twitch Prime, and more,” the team behind Twitch explains.
With Prime Gaming, it’ll now sit logically alongside with Amazon’s other Prime perks such as Prime Video and Prime Reading, The Verge reports. Indeed enough, The move is set to make it easier for Amazon’s Amazon Prime subscribers.
An excerpt of the announcement reads:
“Now it’s easier than ever for the more than 150 million paid Amazon Prime members to enjoy everything that’s possible on Twitch and beyond with their Prime membership, from supporting streamers to getting free valuable in-game content for the world’s most played games and a rotating collection of free PC games every month.”
The official landing page of the service has already made the changes, promoting more benefits from the Amazon Prime subscription. It now advertises that Prime Gaming is the “Amazon Prime home for gamers.”
according to an email from Twitch to partners i've received, Twitch Prime rebranding to Prime Gaming will offer 'more opportunities to grow viewership' to streamers
Amazon and Twitch have planned the announcement for tomorrow morning Monday at 11 AM PST/1 PM EST/19:00 CET pic.twitter.com/P0dlTPnWIe
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) August 10, 2020
Amazon strives to expand its gaming arm
Furthermore, Director of Prime Gaming, Larry Plotnick, told Washington Post that there is “nothing negative” about their move to drop the “Twitch” name from its premium subscription.
Plotnick further explains:
“We love Twitch. We’re still very deeply partnered with them. But the goal here is really to reach as broad of an audience as possible, reach as many gamers as possible.”
This move says a lot about Amazon’s determination to expand its services, specifically towards the gaming industry. Twitch is primarily dominated by game streamers and the gaming community.
This has been the platform for many eSports events in the past, and more so today. The platform became in-demand after the coronavirus pandemic halted any physical events, including eSports tournaments.
Many, if not all, eSports events happening digitally are conducted on the Twitch platform. Riot Games’ Valorant is one of the major titles that made use of the platform, from its beta phase to its various third-party eSports tournaments.
Amazon is also striving to pitch in its very own tentpole games. One of which is Crucible, which reverted to the beta phase following a rocky launch. After that, its other games such as New World and a new version of Pac-Man were subsequently pulled back.
Aside from that, rumors have it that Amazon might just take on Google Stadia and Microsoft’s Project xCloud with its very own cloud gaming platform. It is reportedly codenamed as “Project Tempo.”
Featured image courtesy of Twitch