亚马逊收购游戏直播网站Twitch

Amazon is paying close to $1bn for Twitch, a three-year-old site where tens of millions of regular visitors watch other people play video games.

亚马逊(Amazon)斥资近10亿美元，收购了一家名为Twitch的网站。Twitch在3年前成立，访问者可以在这个网站上实况观看其他用户玩视频游戏，经常访问的用户达到数千万人。

The $970m all-cash deal is Amazon’s biggest acquisition since buying online shoe retailer Zappos for $1.2bn in 2009.

这宗9.7亿美元的交易是亚马逊自2009年以12亿美元收购在线鞋类零售商Zappos之后，规模最大的一次收购。

Its bet on the fast-growing niche of live game streaming comes as Amazon is upping its investment in online original video content to compete with the likes of Netflix and Hulu.

游戏实况直播是一个小众市场，但增长迅速。亚马逊进军这一市场的同时，正打算加大对在线原创视频内容的投资力度，以便和Netflix和Hulu等网站竞争。

Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, said that Twitch and its 55m users had made broadcasting and watching gameplay into a “global phenomenon” that would help Amazon “build new services for the gaming community”.

亚马逊首席执行官杰夫•贝佐斯(Jeff Bezos)表示，Twitch网站及其5500万用户已经把游戏实况转播及观赏变成一种“全球现象”，这种现象将帮助亚马逊“为游戏社区提供新的服务”。

Google, whose YouTube site is also popular with gamers, was among the other companies circling Twitch but it failed to reach a deal, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

根据谈判知情人士的说法，谷歌(Google)原本也在有意收购Twitch网站的公司之列，不过它未能与Twitch达成收购协议。目前，谷歌旗下的YouTube网站也很受游戏者欢迎。

In a post to his site, Twitch chief executive Emmett Shear said that Amazon “believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision” but would not be making radical changes.

Twitch首席执行官埃米特•希尔(Emmett Shear)在一份声明中称，亚马逊“信任我们的社区，他们与我们有共同的价值观和长期愿景”，不过亚马逊不会对Twitch做大的改动。

“We’re keeping most everything the same: our office, our employees, our brand, and most importantly our independence,” he said, in an attempt to reassure users who might be nervous about the change in control.

为安抚那些对控制权的变更感到不安的用户，他表示：“我们差不多一切都和原来一样：办公室、品牌、以及最重要的独立性。”

Despite producing and commissioning new online video series and allowing authors to self-publish ebooks for its Kindle e-reader, the acquisition of a company dedicated to creating online content is something of a departure for Amazon, which is locked in a fight with book publisher Hachette over ebook pricing.

亚马逊也自己制作或请人制作新的在线游戏，并允许作者为该公司的Kindle电子阅读器自行出版电子书。不过，收购一家致力于创作在线游戏的公司，还是有点偏离亚马逊的业务轨道。最近，亚马逊与图书出版商阿歇特(Hachette)在电子书定价问题上发生了争执。