Starting this Spring, Twitch will be competing with Steam by selling games and DLC. Gamers will be allowed to buy directly from “partnered” Twitch streamers with them receiving a percentage of the revenue. The publishers and developers will receive 70% of the revenue, 25% to Twitch, and 5% to the streamer. If a game is purchased by from a developers’ Twitch page, they would receive up to 75% of the revenue.
At the time of publishing, Twitch has signed deals with Ubisoft, Telltale Games, Digital Extremes, Hi-Rez Studios, tinyBuild, Paradox Interactive, Trion Worlds, Vlambeer, and ‘many more’.
Robin Fontaine, Product Marketing Director of Twitch, told Gamesindustry.biz..
“At launch pre-ordering won’t be available. We know this is an important element of game distribution and we will be working with our developers and publishers to create compelling pre-order programs in the future.”
“We see PC gaming as an open ecosystem and want Twitch Games Commerce to operate in that spirit. We absolutely believe that our platform is additive to publishers’ own distribution methods. We want to partner with them to extend their reach beyond their existing clients to help them more directly reach their audience on Twitch. Gamers are already coming to Twitch to discover and learn about games they want to buy. Developers are looking for ways to tap into this audience and offer content when they are most engaged. Twitch Games Commerce shortens the cycle between discovery and purchase.”
Fontaine did not comment on the idea of it being available on consoles but did note “We see a number of potential ways this program will grow. Which direction we decide to go will be largely driven by what our community wants.”
