Livestreaming platform Twitch took another step forward in its conquest of the online gaming community earlier this week, when the opening of its official online merchandise store was announced.
The store, which opens with a range of community-inspired products – from t-shirts and hoodies, to cups and plush pillows – is accessible through both Twitch and parent company Amazon.
Since the e-commerce behemoth announced its acquisition of Twitch in 2014, the two ventures have become increasingly linked. One major development in their amalgamation occurred a year ago, with the launch of Twitch Prime. The program offers a suite of site-enhancing upgrades and deals on games, and is included in users’ Amazon Prime subscriptions.
“Our community is devoted to Twitch and has been vocal about wanting to show off their love for the brand,” said Jennifer Dabnor, Twitch’s Director of Private Label Licensing.
“Giving our community access to items like our coveted purple Twitch shirts and expanding into women’s fits and kids options allows us to embrace the broader Twitch community. We also want to make it easy for our fans to show off their Twitch pride, which is why we are providing them with a 24/7 digital store powered by Amazon.”
This latest development is only really surprising for how long it has taken. Given Twitch’s extraordinary reach, it seems remarkable that they haven’t seized advantage of Amazon’s e-commerce capabilities much, much sooner. In fact, with only 23 products currently available, this feels like a very cautious testing of the waters. One would expect that the item range will expand sooner rather than later.
The initial product selection focuses heavily on the easily-identifiable ‘Glitch’ logo, and the company’s famous purple also features strongly across the board. In fact, only two items include a design with something more than just the logo and company name – a retro-inspired joystick tee, and another with the cheeky design “<message deleted>“, which refers to messages in Twitch chat which have been removed by moderators.
The clear focus on Twitch’s signature branding lends itself to the prevalent aura of timidity. With such a wide and diverse audience, one could forgive them for starting with the basics, but we can certainly hope that they will expand into more community-focused (and perhaps even streamer-specific) gear.
Esports Insider says: Another revenue stream opens up for one of the biggest names in esports, gaming, and broadcasting. We look forward to following its development – and hope that one day, the platform can offer streamers another source of income.
