The company that owns Twitch, Justin.tv, is changing its name today to better reflect the hugely popular game streaming service that it’s now known for. From now on, the corporate entity that owns both Twitch and the website Justin.tv will be called Twitch Interactive, Inc.
The move isn’t particularly surprising, given the tremendous growth of Twitch and game streaming generally over the last couple of years. Twitch Interactive launched the service as a separate brand in June 2011, after it began broadcasting eSports tournaments on Justin.tv. The site now attracts 1 million unique active broadcasters, 6 million streams and 45 million unique viewers every month, watching 13 billion minutes of gameplay that go far beyond the competitive, professional world of eSports.
As the barriers for video game streaming continue to fall – the PlayStation 4 supports Twitch streaming and the Xbox One will follow early this year – the interest in broadcasting and watching this content is likely to increase further.
Twitch Interactive emphasized that Justin.tv won’t be closed, although today’s name change is a clear indication of where its focus now lies. “As Twitch has continued to grow as the leader of the video game streaming space, it has eclipsed our previous initiatives,” Twitch CEO and founder Emmet Shear said. “Given our total focus on serving the gaming community it makes sense to reposition it as our primary brand.”
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Image Credit: Miguel Villagran/Getty Images
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