A Rough, But Expected, Week for Twitch - The UpStream

A Rough, But Expected, Week for Twitch

posted Sunday Aug 10, 2014 by Scott Ertz

A Rough, But Expected, Week for Twitch

When Google purchased Twitch we all knew we were in for some changes. Twitch proves our point this week by announcing a number of policy changes. As you would expect, most of these changes do not make Twitch users happy.

Let's start with the positive. You can now export your videos directly to YouTube. Send YouTube is Google's one stop video repository, this addition make sense. But with Google any new addition means a loss somewhere else. That loss is on Twitch native storage.

Recorded content will now stay on Twitch for only 14 days, unless you're a paying subscriber in which case you'll get 60 days. With limited Twitch storage it will force users to move their videos to YouTube. I suppose thankfully Google has made that easy.

Unfortunately this is going to create a fracture in the ecosystem. Currently if you're looking for a Twitch streamer's content you know where to go; old, new and live alike are all in one place. Now you're going to have to look on YouTube for their previous content and Twitch for their current and live. Luckily Google is an expert on fractured ecosystems.

Next, Twitch will now mute videos that contain copyrighted music. It does make sense that copyrighted music would be muted considering Google's plan is to move the record and content to YouTube, which already has this feature. This does not apply to live streams, however, so get your fill while you're live.

Finally, Twitch's saying goodbye to its founding site Justin.tv. After 7 years in service at the site has been shut down permanently. The farewell video from the original founders was posted on Vimeo, not YouTube.

As you might expect the Twitch community is not happy with these changes. In fact many of the high profile broadcasters are looking at other options. The site Hitbox.tv is advertising directly to Twitch's customer base, posting a blog titled, "Time to switch."

What will happen to the very loyal Twitch fans? Will they stay with Google or move to a competitor? What are your plans? Let us know in the comments.

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