Twitch, the Amazon-owned live game-broadcasting service, announced a deal to acquire privately held Curse, a company that provides news, information, guides, in-game chat and voice products, video and databases for some 30 million video-game fans each month.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Curse, based in Huntsville, Ala., had raised $58 million in funding from investors including GGV Capital, Idinvest Partners, Riot Games, SoftTech VC and Ventech, according to CrunchBase. Amazon acquired Twitch in 2014 for $970 million.
Curse, founded in 2006, operates more than 65 gaming sites including the Gamepedia wiki, as well as websites with news, guides, tools and databases built around individual game titles. It also runs Union for Gamers, a multichannel network for YouTube creators to monetize their channels.
“We’ve long been fans of Curse, which is an innovator in the games industry with a strong culture built around its offerings — from Curse Voice and Curse Client to Gamepedia,” Twitch CEO Emmett Shear said in a statement. “While it’s still early days for Twitch and Curse, we’re kindred spirits in many ways and are looking forward to working together to enhance our users’ gaming experience.”
Hubert Thieblot, founder and CEO of Curse, commented, “I’m really excited to see how we can bring Curse services into the Twitch network, and provide an unparalleled experience to both Curse and Twitch users.”
Twitch currently has more than 100 million members, who watch and chat about video-game broadcasts from more than 1.7 million streamers. Twitch also features Twitch Creative, a category devoted to artists and the creative process.
