Amazon-owned live video streaming giant Twitch made one of its biggest announcements of the year on Wednesday as it revealed more than 20 new extensions to help content creators increase engagement and interaction.
Called “Twitch Extensions,” the new toolset allows third-party developers to create add-ons that live video streamers can use on their channel pages to help better engage with their fans.
“Twitch Extensions will put you at the heart of the next evolution in live streaming,” Ryan Lubinski, product manager for Extensions at Twitch, said at an event in Seattle at Amazon’s HQ on Thursday. “Extensions are live apps for live streams, created by the community, for the community, and integrated directly on Twitch. They are flexible, dynamic, easy to build, and easy to use.”
There are more than 20 available extensions “coming soon,” Twitch said today. They range from “Leaderboard by Muxy,” which automatically displays a channel’s top five cheerers, to “Schedule by Layer One,’ which shows viewers scheduled Twitch events. Polls, virtual pets, interactive game information, and other overlays can also now be added. There are also extensions for specific games, like “MasterOverwatch by Master Network,” an on-screen statistics overlay for Overwatch broadcasters.
Kathy Astromoff, head of Twitch’s developer platform and a game industry veteran, said she’s never been as excited for a reveal event than Thursday.
“Today is a watershed moment in how developers, streamers, and Twitch can build our shared community together,” she said.
Twitch Extensions also offers a new way for developers and streamers to make money. “Gear on Amazon” is an extension that lets streamers surface Amazon products on their stream and earn commission through Amazon’s affiliate program. They can select different products to promote from the Amazon catalog and create a “Gear on Amazon” list from their Twitch dashboard alongside other extensions.
“Many streamers have such strong connections with your communities that you can earn a living on their support,” Astromoff said. “Our mission at Twitch is to build tools and services that help even more streamers do this. But we can’t do it alone — developers, we need your help.”
Third-party developers can build extensions for creators from Twitch’s updated Developer Portal. Twitch plans to share more about the new extensions at its TwitchCon Developer Day in October.
At the launch event in Seattle — where the big PAX gaming convention is being held in town this weekend — there were plenty of Twitch employees who traveled to the event. Attendees ranged from developers to broadcasters to other people working in the gaming industry.
Twitch, acquired by Amazon in 2014 for nearly $1 billion, 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.
Here’s a list of the extensions Twitch announced today:
- Destiny Armory Overlay by Grab Games: Dive into Destiny gear, view details on
perks, get class info, and more – all seamlessly incorporated into the stream. - Gear on Amazon: This panel highlights Partners and Affiliates’ favorite products on Amazon, making it easy for viewers to find and purchase them. It also helps fans support their favorite creators, since members of the Amazon Associates program earn commissions.
- Hearthstone Match Ticker by Battlefy: Live ticker for Hearthstone tournaments on Battlefy.
- Innkeeper: Interactive Hearth Overlay by Curse: Interactive deck overlay and card tooltips.
- Isaac Tracker by Pretzel Tech: Allows viewers to view the level seed and details on items picked up while playing Binding of Isaac.
- Kappa Pet by Porcupine: A virtual pet that lives on the channel page, which responds to viewers, evolves as the stream runs, and goes to sleep when the creator is offline.
- Leaderboard by Muxy: Automatically displays the channel’s top five cheerers.
- Live Emote Reactions by Porcupine: Allows viewers to react by sharing emotes live.
- Loyalty, Music, Polls & Games by Streamlabs: Shows loyalty points, receives song requests, displays polls, lets viewers enter giveaways, and host mini-games.
- MasterOverwatch by Master Network: On-screen statistics overlay for Overwatch broadcasters.
- OP.GG For League of Legends by OP.GG: Provides in-game statistics for creators, including summoner spells, runes, and masteries.
- Overlay by Muxy: One stream overlay with many interactive apps.
- Schedule by Layer One: Keep your community up to date on your scheduled Twitch events in their local timezone.
- Smart Click Maps by ExMachima: Shows a “heatmap” of clicks, allowing viewers to suggest the creator’s next move, card, or weapon by clicking directly on the video.
- StreamLegends by Proletariat Inc: Fight monsters, loot treasure, build your channel’s town and raid together.
- Summoner Info by Legendary Builds: A summary of the creator’s League of Legends player info with runes, masteries, most played champions, and recent ranked games.
- Teams by GameWisp: Promote a Twitch team you belong to with the Teams panel.
- TRN Battlegrounds (PUBG) Live Tracker by Tracker Network: Shows live updates of PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS stats. Both Overlay and Panel options available.
- TRN Destiny Live Tracker by Tracker Network: Tracks Destiny progress and loadout.
- TRN Rocket League Live Tracker by Tracker Network: Tracks Rocket League skill ratings.
- What’s Playing by Pretzel Tech: Shows what music is currently playing on stream.
