Amazon’s Twitch is an unbreakable monopoly in video game streaming – Quartz



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Twitch is the undisputed king of the video game streaming world. Some of the biggest names in big tech – Microsoft, Google, Facebook – have come for his crown. None have succeeded, and despite their best efforts, there’s no reason to think any of them will dethrone Twitch anytime soon.

Twitch, which is owned by Amazon, broadcasts streams of people playing video games. Anyone can go online and watch endless hours of internet influencers play titles like Fortnite, League of Legends, and Minecraft. Twitch sells ads, which appear on the site and sometimes interrupt streams, and subscriptions, which viewers can purchase to access special features of their favorite channels. No part of Twitch’s design is so unique that a rival couldn’t copy it, and indeed, many have.

But the real secret to his success lies in the community he fosters. Next to every Twitch stream, there’s a chat box, and on popular streams, viewers flood the stream with a constant barrage of comments. Chattering is so essential to the experience of watching a stream that Twitch is actually a social media platform, built on the connections viewers make with the streamers and with each other in its chaotic comment sections. These relationships have kept viewers on Twitch, even when rival platforms poach its most popular streamers.

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