For the first time, Twitch is opening up an official merchandise online store — and of course, it’s powered by Amazon’s e-commerce engine.
The social video platform, acquired by Amazon in 2014 for nearly $1 billion, today launched the Twitch Online Store featuring Twitch shirts, hoodies, community inspired apparel and home goods. Items can be found at amazon.com/twitchmerch or twitch.tv/store. Purchases require an Amazon account.
Offering an official merchandise store has been one of the most popular requests from Twitch users.
“Giving our community access to items like our coveted purple Twitch shirts and expanding into women’s fits and kids options allows us to embrace the broader Twitch community,” Jennifer Dabnor, director of private label and licensing for Twitch, said in a statement. “We also want to make it easy for our fans to show off their Twitch pride, which is why we are providing them with a 24/7 digital store powered by Amazon.”
This is the latest example of Amazon helping grow Twitch with its resources and technology. Last year, Twitch introduced Twitch Prime, a bundle of Amazon Prime benefits specifically aimed at gamers like discounts on game pre-orders and new releases, a rotating selection of free digital titles, in-game bonuses, and an ad-free Twitch experience that includes a free monthly Twitch channel subscription.
Twitch Prime is available to those who pay for an Amazon Prime membership in the U.S., Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Spain, and the U.K. It’s also accessible to customers in countries where Amazon Prime not offered, but monthly Prime Video subscriptions are available.
Twitch also began selling video games directly on its site earlier this year and last year it unveiled a daily web series about fashion and beauty that encouraged viewers to purchase items on Amazon.
Since acquiring Twitch, Amazon has grown its Amazon Game Studios team and last year announced its first games with deep Twitch integration. One of the games even includes the ability for users to wager loyalty points that can be exchanged for in-game rewards — effectively moving Amazon into the emerging area of eSports betting.
Amazon has also created an ecosystem it describes as a “sandbox of innovation” that includes Twitch, Lumberyard, Amazon Web Services, and Curse.
Twitch is traditionally known for its game streaming platform — there were 2.2 million Twitch streamers in 2016 — but the company is also expanding into other verticals like arts, cooking, vlogging, and more. The company has grown from 200 employees at the time of Amazon’s acquisition to 1,200 today.
