Twitch introduces Twitch Prime: “It is with great pride and a tear of joy in our eye that we present to you the newest product collaboration between Twitch and Amazon. Yes, you guessed it, Twitch Prime!!!”

“Since the moment it was announced in 2014 that Amazon would acquire Twitch, you have been wondering how we would work with Amazon to bring value to the Twitch community. Well, we took our cue from you. Right after the acquisition there were Reddit posts and tweets asking when we would offer Twitch Prime.”

“Here it is: Twitch Prime is a new premium experience on Twitch that is included with Amazon Prime. As a Twitch Prime member, you get free game loot every month, like instant access to the newest Hearthstone hero, Tyrande Whisperwind, or the new indie game, Streamline. You also receive discounts on new-release box games sold by Amazon during the pre-order period and for the first two weeks after launch. And on Twitch, once you link your Amazon Prime account to your Twitch account, you get an ad-free viewing experience, exclusive emotes and chat badge, and one free channel subscription every 30 days. When Twitch Prime members use their free channel subscription every month, the streamer gets paid just like any other subscription, so this introduces a new way to help support the streamers you love, even if you’ve never subscribed before. Or, you can just use it for crashing subscriber-only chat rooms.”

Why’d they do it?

Adds Engadget: “From Amazon’s point of view, this is an easy way to grab up some new Prime members from the massive Twitch audience. On the Twitch side, users can still keep their current Turbo ad-free memberships at the $8.99 price point if they prefer, but they won’t get all the additional benefits or early bird access that come with the Prime membership. New users can snatch up a free 30-day trial now. After that, Amazon Prime costs $10.99 per month or $99 annually. If you’re already an Amazon Prime member, all you need to do is link your Twitch and Amazon accounts at twitchprime.com.”