Twitchcon Keynote 2016 Outlines New Changes

Twitchcon 2016 is currently occurring right now in San Diego and one of the huge things surrounding the event are the big announcements coming at the Twitchcon Keynote 2016 event. Twitch has grown into a huge destination for people on the internet, but the website design has often lagged. What sort of changes can Twitch broadcasters and streamers expect in the coming year? Twitch CEO Emmett Shear, led the Twitchcon Keynote 2016.

Curse + Twitch

Twitch acquired Curse earlier this year and they are looking to integrate more Twitch into the Curse platform. Users will be able change to the Twitch purple in the Curse dashboard. They will also be able to spam dank Kappas and Minglees in the Curse chat.

Video

Twitch unveiled a few features, some of which are currently live to specific partners.

1. Transcode Options: Users will be able to have more control over video quality. Much like YouTube, users will be able to select resolution as well as frame rate. This is currently live for some partners and will be rolled out to a select 5,000 non-partners in the near future.
2. Video Uploading: In direct competition to YouTube, Twitch is getting an upload feature. Basically turning Twitch into a YouTube style platform. All users will be able to use this feature. However, Emmett stressed this will be in ‘beta’ for the time being, so join into the Twitch Curse chat to help shape development of this new feature.
3. HTML 5: The transition to HTML 5 players is now complete and is available to all streamers now!
4. Clips & Editing: A new clip editor is coming, if you are one of those people who likes to make clips.

Badges

In what can only be described as taking forever, Twitch has finally rolled out a way to reward people for staying subbed to channels for a long time. Streamers can now reward users with chat custom loyalty badges for staying subscribed. These badges will show off viewers dedication to streamers. It looks pretty interesting.

Twitch Prime

The biggest announcement out of the Twitchcon Keynote 2016, was the announcement of Twitch Prime. Basically this brings you Twitch based benefits from having an Amazon Prime membership. Prime owners can link to their Twitch account and use certain benefits on Twitch.

1. One Free Monthly Sub: Twitch Prime will give each user a sub token that can be used on subbing to a partnered streamer channel. This basically means you get a free sub.
2. In Game Loot: Being a Twitch Prime user will give you access to in game exclusive items. Hearthstone is the big one this month. Users will get: Tyrande Whisperwind, a new Night Elf Priestess hero. Plus a custom cardback. Users will also get Streamlined, a new PC Indie Game. The last benefit this month is Boss Ymir, which is an exclusive skin in Smite.
3. Member Prices: This is not much of a ‘new’ feature, but Prime owners get better prices on games and pre-orders.

Overall, I think Twitch Prime is the real winner here. There appears to be a tremendous amount of value here. With all this being said, it does somewhat cannibalize the current Twitch Turbo membership, so it will be interesting to see what happens there.

What did you think of the Twitchcon Keynote 2016 announcements? Let me know in the Pit below.