In case you weren’t getting enough esports in your life, Blizzard and Twitch have announced a two-year streaming rights deal that will give Twitch users access to more than 20 major esports events through 2018.
The deal will give Twitch streaming rights to select Blizzard esports content while also giving Twitch Prime subscribers access to epic loot chests for Overwatch, Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm. The first part of the collaboration will give Twitch third-party streaming rights for all the major Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, and Overwatch events including:
- 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
“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, said in a statement. “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.”
For the second part of the deal, Twitch Prime members in over 200 countries will have access to special in-game loot for Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone. Starting now and running until August 10th, new and current twitch Prime members will receive a Golden Loot Box for Overwatch. Then in the next few months, Twitch Prime members will receive 10 more Overwatch loot boxes containing in-game items, emotes, voice lines, and/or character skins. Later this year, there will be loot boxes for Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm.
“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 said in the press release. “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.”
This is a huge announcement for both companies, and it doesn’t look like this partnership will have any effect on the deal that Blizzard has with Facebook Live. Earlier this year, Blizzard used the Facebook streaming service exclusively for Heroes of the Dorm.
Perhaps now is the time to upgrade to Twitch Prime to take advantage of the epic loot coming our way.
Photo Credit: Abraham Engelmark
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