Amazon confirmed today that it has reached an agreement to buy video game livestreaming service Twitch for $970 million. The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2014.

Confirmation of the deal comes after multiple reports that pegged Amazon's buyout of Twitch at more than $1 billion. Earlier reports indicated that Google-owned YouTube was eyeing Twitch for a purchase.

"Broadcasting and watching gameplay is a global phenomenon and Twitch has built a platform that brings together tens of millions of people who watch billions of minutes of games each month — from The International, to breaking the world record for Mario, to gaming conferences like E3. And, amazingly, Twitch is only three years old," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com in a release. "Like Twitch, we obsess over customers and like to think differently, and we look forward to learning from them and helping them move even faster to build new services for the gaming community."



"Amazon and Twitch optimize for our customers first and are both believers in the future of gaming," said Twitch CEO Emmett Shear. "Being part of Amazon will let us do even more for our community. We will be able to create tools and services faster than we could have independently. This change will mean great things for our community, and will let us bring Twitch to even more people around the world."

Shear thanked the Twitch community for their contributions and for "sticking with us through growing pains and stumbles" in a letter posted to the company's official website.

"We chose Amazon because they believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision, and they want to help us get there faster," Shear wrote. "We're keeping most everything the same: our office, our employees, our brand, and most importantly our independence. But with Amazon's support we'll have the resources to bring you an even better Twitch."

Twitch was launched in June 2011 by Justin.tv co-founders Justin Kan and Emmett Shear and focuses on live video game streams and eSports broadcasting, though the company has started to expand its live offerings beyond video games. Twitch boasts more than 55 million visitors per month and topped 1 million monthly broadcasters earlier this year.