On Tuesday, Amazon’s video game broadcasting platform Twitch augmented its presence with the acquisition of Curse, a popular gaming media outlet with 141 employees in six offices in three continents.
The move comes days after Microsoft’s announcement of their purchase of interactive game streaming startup Beam in an effort to bolster its Xbox arsenal.
Neither Twitch nor Curse disclosed financial terms of their respective deals.
Twitch buys VoIP and game community host Curse e3zX2wvPb2
— Gamasutra (@gamasutra) August 17, 2016
“We’ve long been fans of Curse, which is an innovator in the games industry with a strong culture built around its offerings — from Curse Voice and Curse Client to Gamepedia,” said Twitch chief executive Emmett Shear.
“While it’s still [the] early days for Twitch and Curse, we’re kindred spirits in many ways and are looking forward to working together to enhance our users’ gaming experience.”
Curse, founded by Hubert Thieblot in 2006, is headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama but has offices in San Francisco, New York City and Los Angeles in the United States as well as in United Kingdom, Germany and Australia.
Boasting a total 30 million visitors monthly, Curse has been known for its Curse Client[5], an add-on and modification service for games such as World of Warcraft, Minecraft, Rift, Kerbal Space Program, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Terraria.
.curseapp: monetization. afflictionwarlock
— David Clevinger (@dbclev) August 17, 2016
The company, according to Digital Trends, became a “gaming information giant” after landing at least $11 million in financing seven years ago.
“I’m really excited to see how we can bring Curse services into the Twitch network,” said Thieblot, Curse’s chief executive.
Amazon, the American online retail behemoth, bought Twitch in 2014 for $970 million in cash in one of the largest acquisitions in the company’s history.
Twitch, a global leader in social video platform for gamers, claims more than 100 million users worldwide watching and discussing games being streamed live.
“This acquisition will help provide gamers with the tools and resources they need to achieve the ultimate gaming experience, a mission shared by both Twitch and Curse,” said Evan Freitas of Twitch.
“Together Curse and Twitch will help gamers connect, interact, and share information with one another.”
