It launches today
Amazon has confirmed to Destructoid that the company is completely re-branding “Twitch Prime,” to the point where it is no longer Twitch: only Prime.
Yes, the “free loot and games (plus a subscription per month)” service is being re-tooled for the first time since its 2016 debut, and not a whole lot has changed. Prime Gaming, the new moniker, is live today and will still provide “free and exclusive content” for games: it’s accessible from the same Prime subscription. It is now part of the “Prime” family: a list that includes Prime Video, Amazon Music and Prime Reading.
An Amazon rep states that the service is “still going to let you keep your games forever,” and it will still allow you to subscribe to one Twitch channel per month for free. Going forward, Prime Gaming plans on doubling down on loot for Apex Legends, League of Legends, GTA Online, Doom Eternal, FIFA 20, Destiny 2 and TeamFight Tactics. HyperScape and Roblox are also teased as future partners.
Amazon reminded us that since Twitch Prime launched in 2016, it has become “one of Amazon’s fastest growing Prime benefits,” and “over $6,000 in-game content and free games” have been given away in 2020 alone. While lots of the loot and cosmetics have been redeemable on consoles, Amazon re-confirmed that the program is “still focused on PC,” in terms of free games.
Digging deeper into this I wanted to fully understand what the change actually entails, and Amazon gave me a straightforward answer: “Not a lot will be changing for old members. For new members it will be easier to access everything. The main thing going forward that will change is the amount of content that we offer through the program.”
You can find the new service at gaming.amazon.com later today: you will not need to be tethered to a Twitch account going forward. Amazon says you “may need to re-link your accounts,” but “if you claimed content for a game before, you will not need to do anything else.” Your stuff will be preserved.
