Amazon has completed the purchase of video game streaming service Twitch for $970 million.
The rumbling and deep opening of wallets show how much stock the massive tech leaders put into the videogame streaming realm, which also allows users to watch video games being played as a spectator sport.
"Today, I'm pleased to announce we've been acquired by Amazon," wrote Twitch's CEO Emmett Shear in an official post on Twitch today. "We chose Amazon because they believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision, and they want to help us get there faster. We're keeping most everything the same: our office, our employees, our brand, and most importantly our independence. But with Amazon's support we'll have the resources to bring you an even better Twitch."
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Rumors about the buyout were broken in a new report in The Information prior to its official confirmation. Amazon and CEO Jeff Bezos reportedly beat out Google's bid for the service. Sources claimed that Google has been talking to Twitch for months about an acquisition.
"We don't comment on rumor or speculation," a Google spokesperson told Variety, one of the publications that broke the initial Google-Twitch speculation, today.
Google was wooing Twitch with a $1 billion bid, according to sources close to the deal. Amazon has confirmed the deal was worth $970 million, according to Tech Crunch. Google bought video streaming service YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion.
In July, Twitch boasted that the site had 50 million monthly active users and more than 1.1 million members who broadcast videos each month-with users watching 13 billion minutes of video per month. When the service was founded back in 2011, the site only reported 3.2 million monthly active users that June.
