Blizzard Entertainment along with Twitch have just announced that they have signed two year deal that will let Twitch have third party live streaming rights to Overwatch, Starcraft, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm during popular esports events. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed however. This deal is the second major video rights agreement in the esports industry. The first being BAMTech promising $300 million to distribute “League of Legends” tournaments for creator Riot Games for a period of seven years. The Twitch deal includes:
- Heroes of the Storm Global Championship (HGC)
- StarCraft 2 World Championship Series (WCS Circuit)
- Hearthstone Championship Tour (HCT)
- Hearthstone Global Games (HGG)
- World of Warcraft Arena Championship
- Overwatch APEX League
- Overwatch Premier Series
Twitch Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lin made statements about the deal. “We could build something largely advertising- and licensing-driven or we can try to do some new things to make money in e-sports,” Lin said. “This gives us more flexibility and time to think through this.”
This arrangement ties in with Amazon Prime allowing Twitch users with Prime memberships will be able to receive game related merchandise. These specific members will receive a free content in Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm as part of the partnership. Twitch Prime members will also receive an Overwatch golden loot box that contains a guaranteed legendary item. The deal doesn’t include total exclusivity of the events to Twitch but Blizzard will be able to provide first party streaming through their own site.