YouTube is about to acquire Twitch for $1 billion

While not widely known to non-gaming audiences, the Twitch, a streaming service that allows users to stream their gaming sessions from PCs and consoles (Xbox One and PlayStation 4) over the internet, is about to make headlines thanks to the value of its acquisition and the buyer: the YouTube.

Since it was acquired by Google in 2006, for 1,65 billion dollars, YouTube had never made a purchase of this size. According to Variety, which reported the transaction, the deal is already closed. The official announcement is being planned because Google knows that antitrust authorities must scrutinize the negotiation due to the concentration of traffic that the union is expected to generate.

Twitch, created in 2011, is the largest service of this type of streaming with 45 million of users, with 1 million of them streaming games every month. In addition to user matches, Twitch has agreements to show championships and videos produced by sites such as Joystiq, Gamespot and Destructoid.

The service also generates the fourth largest internet traffic in the US, above big companies like Amazon and Facebook and behind only Netflix, Google and Apple.

According to the The Verge, the choice for YouTube is explained by Google's ability to sustain the growth in the number of Twitch users, something that the service has admitted to be having difficulty dealing with in recent months, and the alignment of the companies' business strategies (Twitch also shows advertisements, but has a paid plan for users who want to remove them).

Among the various purchase offers received, Twitch would have rejected one made by ecosystem, for fear that the Xbox developer would tie the service to its console, alienating PlayStation 4 players.

Google and Twitch are still discussing terms of the agreement regarding the independence of the company and the brand after the approval of the purchase by YouTube.

Sources: Variety, The Verge.