Amazon"s online streaming platform, Twitch, has suffered some major blows over the past few months, as rivals like Microsoft and Facebook turn up the heat in the streaming market. Microsoft"s Mixer signed exclusive deals with streamers like Ninja and Shroud, and Facebook has snatched up some exclusives of its own.
Naturally, it was unlikely that Twitch would sit idly and watch its market get taken away, so the company has now signed some exclusive deals of its own, aiming to retain the biggest names on the platform. As reported by Gamesindustry.biz, the streaming platform has signed deals with three major streamers - Benjamin "DrLupo" Lupo, Saqib "LIRIK" Zahid, and Timothy "TimTheTatman" Betar.
According to data from SocialBlade, TimTheTatman is ranked 7th in terms of the number of followers on Twitch, while DrLupo follows closely behind in 11th place. LIRIK is further behind in 23rd place in terms of followers, but is ranked 9th when it comes to the number of views, far ahead of the other two. Collectively, the three streamers have received well over 10 million views in the last 30 days.
Of course, Twitch was a little late to avoid losing even bigger names. Ninja and Shroud, now signed to Mixer, are still ranked first and third in terms of followers on Twitch, according to SocialBlade. Nonetheless, the war for the streaming market is well underway now that all three platforms are spending significant amounts of money to retain the biggest names in the industry.