Social video platform Twitch and Blizzard Entertainment have announced a two-year worldwide collaboration that includes third-party live streaming rights to select Blizzard esports content, as well as special game content for Twitch Prime subscribers.
Through this collaboration, Twitch will have the third-party rights for streaming many of Blizzard’s biggest esports events through 2018. As the premier social video platform and community for gamers, fans can look forward to watching and interacting with top-tier competitive gaming content from Blizzard while benefiting from a convenient, consistent, and reliable viewing experience on Twitch. In addition, Twitch Prime gamers will rake in several stellar perks for their favorite Blizzard games.
As the first part of this landmark license deal, Blizzard is licensing third-party streaming-platform rights to Twitch for a range of Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, and Overwatch esports content. The deal, which reflects Blizzard and Twitch’s long-term investment and ongoing commitment to their passionate communities, supports the world-class competitive ecosystem across all of Blizzard’s esports properties. This includes the following programs and comprises more than 20 major individual events:
- Heroes of the Storm Global Championship (HGC)
- StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS Circuit)
- Hearthstone Championship Tour (HCT)
- Hearthstone Global Games (HGG)
- World of Warcraft Arena Championship
- Overwatch APEX League
- Overwatch Premier Series
For the second part of the collaboration, Twitch Prime members in over 200 countries and territories will get special in-game loot and deals for Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm. Starting on June 20 and running through August 10, current and new Twitch Prime members will receive a Golden Loot Box for Overwatch, containing a guaranteed legendary item for one of the game’s heroes along with three additional in-game items, such as emotes, voice lines, or character skins. Over the coming months, Twitch Prime members will receive 10 additional Overwatch loot boxes containing more in-game content. Overwatch players can learn more at https://twitch.amazon.com/overwatch. Similar promotions will begin later this year for Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone players.
“We founded Twitch as a gaming platform heavily based on our community’s reaction to games like Blizzard’s StarCraft II,” said Kevin Lin, COO, Twitch. “Since then, our large, but tight-knit community, our constantly evolving suite of interactive features, and a native emote-driven chat language celebrated by viewers enable us to support and grow Blizzard esports in a manner that best serves our collective fans. This includes providing Blizzard fans with exclusive in-game content for those who subscribe to Twitch Prime, another defining and cherished component of our brand.”
“We’ve had great experiences and a long history of working with Twitch, and we’re thrilled that this landmark agreement with them will help us bring some of the most exciting esports action in the world to Twitch fans and everyone who follows Blizzard esports,” said Frank Pearce, chief product officer and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Our esports communities are vital to us. We know there are millions of people out there who love Blizzard esports as much as we do, and we’re committed to making sure they’ll be able to cheer on their favorite players in all of their favorite Blizzard games for a long time to come.”
