Changes to Twitch Prime

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
Joined
May 18, 1997
Messages
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Twitch Prime has been a pretty good deal for Amazon Prime customers that happen to be Twitch fans. However, Twitch is pulling back on the benefits that you have gotten with Twitch Prime, most notable will be the fact that "universal ad-free viewing will no longer be part of Twitch Prime for new members, starting on September 14." If you are a monthly Twitch Prime customer, you get it till October 15th. If annual, you get it to your next renewal date. It seems as though a lot of folks are using Twitch Prime and the losses on advertising are more than expected. Also keep in mind that advertising on Twitch is rev-shared with partnered creators. But of course if you pay for Twitch Turbo, you can still do away with ads. Thanks Lifelite for the linkage.


And since then we’ve seen the Twitch community take advantage of Twitch Prime perks like monthly channel subscriptions to support favorite streamers, Free Games with Prime, and in-game loot for games like Fortnite, PUBG, Hearthstone, and more. On top of everything you get through Amazon Prime, this year alone we’ve offered members more than $1,000 worth of games and loot.
 
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This is the one that I'm not happy about


Second, starting on August 28, Prime members will now get a $10 Amazon credit when pre-ordering select games on Amazon.com. This credit can be used on almost anything sold by Amazon.com. This new pre-order benefit is replacing the current discount on physical game pre-orders. All eligible pre-orders placed before August 28 will still receive the 20% discount under the existing benefit once the game is released. For more information and restrictions on this new Prime benefit
 
Dirty Butler said:
This is the one that I'm not happy about


Second, starting on August 28, Prime members will now get a $10 Amazon credit when pre-ordering select games on Amazon.com. This credit can be used on almost anything sold by Amazon.com. This new pre-order benefit is replacing the current discount on physical game pre-orders. All eligible pre-orders placed before August 28 will still receive the 20% discount under the existing benefit once the game is released. For more information and restrictions on this new Prime benefit
Click to expand...
Yup super blows.

What's worse, that credit expires in 60 days, and it probably doesn't need to be said, but it doesn't apply to your initial order.
 
Dirty Butler said:
This is the one that I'm not happy about


Second, starting on August 28, Prime members will now get a $10 Amazon credit when pre-ordering select games on Amazon.com. This credit can be used on almost anything sold by Amazon.com. This new pre-order benefit is replacing the current discount on physical game pre-orders. All eligible pre-orders placed before August 28 will still receive the 20% discount under the existing benefit once the game is released. For more information and restrictions on this new Prime benefit
Click to expand...
Not surprising. With all the benefits you get from prime I don't see how they make money off the membership. Expect more cut back in a price increase.
 
Dirty Butler said:
This is the one that I'm not happy about


Second, starting on August 28, Prime members will now get a $10 Amazon credit when pre-ordering select games on Amazon.com. This credit can be used on almost anything sold by Amazon.com. This new pre-order benefit is replacing the current discount on physical game pre-orders. All eligible pre-orders placed before August 28 will still receive the 20% discount under the existing benefit once the game is released. For more information and restrictions on this new Prime benefit
Click to expand...
I have never used that, so I did not even snap to that change. Thanks for pointing it out!
 
Recently stopped Amazon prime for a myriad of reasons. I don't have a huge problem watching ads on Twitch except for 2 things:

1) the livestreams seem to all be low volume, so commercials are SCREAMING LOUD. I know commercials are louder than the show, even on TV, but it's doubly so for Twitch

2) A good portion of the commercials literally break the Twitch app on my phone. How badly depends on the commercial, some only slow things to a crawl so that if I wait ~2 minutes or switch apps and back it fixes it, but one consistently crashes the Twitch app (Phone is not top of the line, but not terrible.... Nexus 5X).

A long time ago, before they created Twitch Prime, there was a feature to report ads that borked the player, but I guess they don't care anymore.
 
Curious if you sub you’ll be ad free to a channel still. I sub to Dan ( 5 a month for his comedy entertainment hours is well worth it to me ) and to Skillzltu for his WoT tips as has been helping my rating learning from him. Last thing I want are ads.
 
Dahkoht said:
Curious if you sub you’ll be ad free to a channel still. I sub to Dan ( 5 a month for his comedy entertainment hours is well worth it to me ) and to Skillzltu for his WoT tips as has been helping my rating learning from him. Last thing I want are ads.
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Only if the channel has ad-free subs turned on.
 
Amazon prime is removing the 10% preorder bonus for vidya games for us Canadians, along with the price hike. Value for the service is steadily going back to shit, video / music is still meh up here.

As for Twitch, Streamlink GUI & VLC > web player garbage. No adds to boot.
 
Jeff Bezos greed strikes again! I guess he really wants to catch up to Apple's greed to be the 2nd trillion dollars company... Yet he still won't pay his food stamp employees a living wage or benefits. Time to bring democratic socialist Franklin Roosevelts tax brackets back during America's great prosperity era (instead of giving them tax money), and Republican Teddy Roosevelts "break em up" philosophy to create and encourage real competition!
 
I mean they’ll get away with it for me and my family. With a wife and two kids and baby their subscribe and save prices alone pays for my prime membership 3-4 times over , and that’s keeping me out of wal mart for those items as they are lower then their or Costco with the 20% discount monthly.

All the other stuff is and has always been just extra bonus , as I’d prefer to keep what benefits I have sure , but they would have to jack the membership up to extreme cost levels to make it even a consideration for us to not have it.
 
That is indeed a huge benefit, I know diapers are a lot cheaper with the subscribe than pretty much everywhere else.
 
DarkStryke said:
That is indeed a huge benefit, I know diapers are a lot cheaper with the subscribe than pretty much everywhere else.
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Yeah I live in a garden home neighborhood with lots of kids in it and 200+ homes, and beginning of the month I joke with the UPS guy each time as it’s basically a pampers Truck rolling through with the huge boxes of 200+ diapers in each going around the neighborhood. That and the Huggies wipes boxes can fill his truck on some days.
 
Raise the price, lower the service sounds about par for the course. If they bring ads to prime video and prime music then I'll be out. Like someone else mentioned, I only signed up to twitch for the free stuff.
 
i don't watch twitch very much. But aren't the commercials only when you first join a channel? I don't recall seeing them all the time when watching stuff. Mind you I haven't been on twitch for about 5 months.
 
Absolute garbage. I hope the backlash from this is severe enough to strike the genitals of whomever came up with this horrid idea, flaying them raw.

Amazon already has been raising the price on Prime and has been extending such things as Twtich Prime in order to keep people subscribed etc. Furthermore, they've been pushing various policies in relation - some decent and some dreadful - to Twitch Prime itself. For instance, the idea of free games is a nice bonus, but them deciding to start yet another "launcher/platform" incompatible with Steam and others, instead of simply offering keys? Garbage. Now here they come essentially crying poor - despite the record profits and marketshare of Amazon and even how Twitch itself makes TONS of money hand over fist from channel subscriptions and especially the idiotic "Bits/Cheering" dynamic.... yet they decide they have to walk back the benefits of Twitch Prime?

First, as far as the ads are concerned this is really just an insult - the idea that Twitch Prime subscribers should also see ads unless they pay for yet ANOTHER subscription on top of it? The unfettered greed...abysmal. It isn't like they don't already have more than enough revenue streams already from Twitch Prime itself, subscriptions, donations through Twitch, buying of Bits/cheering, purchase of pay-per-view type partnerships like the Overwatch All Access pass etc... now they want ads atop all that? If this isn't revised, I can only hope that the ad-blocking addon elite are able to gain an ad-free experience regardless. However, there should definitely be an ad-free experience for Twitch Prime users without having to buy some additional subscription atop it.

Next, in regards to the pre-order discount this is taking something that is already of limited appeal and making it far worse, changing from a 20% discount to $10 max? Its annoying enough that, that Prime members did not get the discount (which only applies to pre-order titles) for digital games, despite both Amazon themselves (selling keys, reasonably which I'd otherwise support) and Twitch (their god awful proprietary platform, separate) offering digital games. The lack of digital discount is a reason I rarely end up purchasing major pre order era titles from Amazon, going elsewhere like GMG. Now, the 20% discount is reasonable - with good timing I can usually do better on GMG or elsewhere even for major AAA titles but its still a good start. Given that especially major AAA titles with "good versions" are often in excess of $60, sometimes that 20% discount would be more than $10; occasionally, significantly so. So limiting to $10 and keeping it for physical copies only makes it pretty limited in usefulness, to say the least.

I'd much rather Twitch Prime be ad-free and them expand the discount to digital titles (ideally key-selling full-time instead of going for a proprietary separate platform; both factors would likely increase their sales considerably), and instead have them cut other features involved in Twitch prime if absolutely necessary. For instance, the free games on a monthly basis are nice, but the games themselves rarely are as good an option as a subscription service like Humble Bundle - even in raw dollar value - and since they're pushed through the Windows only (meaning games with Linux versions are not supported if you have the copy granted or purchased via Twitch client), separate-but-not-at-all-equal Twitch client proprietary nonsense, they're less and less useful for me. Hell if they really need to belly ache about it, cut down the "free" subscription token per month - though I don't think they will do that for a number of reasons. Hell, they've already been charging more for Prime itself; I'd rather have them do that or have them spin off Twitch Prime separately though discounted for Prime users and give MORE features and value.

Regardless, Amazon is hugely profitable across a variety of services and to cloak unfettered greed and the willingness to further limit the value of their services in either crying poor or "optimizing" the experience is just ridiculous .
 
I've been a Prime member for many years and it'll still be a good value to me. The Prime subs alone add a $60 value each year which offsets the main reason I have it, the Prime shipping.
 
Now i'll have no reason to pay for Twitch Prime but there are plugins that let you watch ad-free. Win-Win. :p
 
RanceJustice said:
Absolute garbage. I hope the backlash from this is severe enough to strike the genitals of whomever came up with this horrid idea, flaying them raw.
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Let me just say I would NEVER subscribe to Amazon Prime. Never. All my friends do, and I've spoken to them about Amazon's intentions. It doesn't matter...they just want convenience and what is good for them. Not surprising, but I do find it amusing that people who get so riled up over minor political ideological differences don't inconvenience themselves a bit when push comes to shove. I won't go on a soapbox here as much as you did, I just want to point out that, in general, anything that requires regular payments from you is BAD and is especially bad when the host company abuses its employees and government subsidies all while slowing creeping up price and pulling back features...especially when they just want to force you into a closed ecosystem that records more telemetrics than Windows 10's wet dream. They just want to lay claim to a consistent, permanent % of your future earnings with the hopes of getting more. But Smile while doing it.
 
bit much Maxx

fine if you don't use the features of amazon prime (twitch,video , music and cheaper stuff)

but i was paying for twitch turbo before so most likely will again (youtube Prem 1 hour after it went live in the UK i had it and family enabled for 3 others as well)

i thought that as long as i whitelist twitch they should of still been getting money from ad impressions (twitch sub basicly stops the video playing) bit of a shame to have to pay for it again
 
Maxx said:
Let me just say I would NEVER subscribe to Amazon Prime. Never. All my friends do, and I've spoken to them about Amazon's intentions. It doesn't matter...they just want convenience and what is good for them. Not surprising, but I do find it amusing that people who get so riled up over minor political ideological differences don't inconvenience themselves a bit when push comes to shove. I won't go on a soapbox here as much as you did, I just want to point out that, in general, anything that requires regular payments from you is BAD and is especially bad when the host company abuses its employees and government subsidies all while slowing creeping up price and pulling back features...especially when they just want to force you into a closed ecosystem that records more telemetrics than Windows 10's wet dream. They just want to lay claim to a consistent, permanent % of your future earnings with the hopes of getting more. But Smile while doing it.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that I'd agree that any subscription service is bad - in fact, I've written at length that in some cases its actually the most equitable and best value proposition for the subscriber. I've written more than most over the years on the intrusion of the "Free2Play" dynamic in online gaming as a vector for maximizing profit at the cost of player experience, compared to the time when a subscription payment used to grant you full access to ALL game content at current, for instance. Likewise, even something like Prime Shipping - assuming the user both orders a reasonable amount and values 2day/overnight/same day delivery - is a massive saving compared to if each of those orders required retail pricing for 2day or faster delivery. That said, you're right that it comes down to the particular subscription terms and company. The worst thing about so many companies is that they lead with ethical implementations and high quality products and services and then once they grow large on the back of that reputation, they change. Some companies and changes evolve from unfortunate-but-reasonable circumstances - like increasing costs to deliver service requiring large subscription fees - but others simply just squeeze tighter because they think they can get away with it.

The reaction to new developments has to be on a company by company basis. Sometimes a concentrated negative PR rebuke will be enough to show them their users are not happy with the new direction. Others, it will take something like closing one's subscription in protest while still a few more are resistant or so large in their industries that they would rather be rid of "troublesome" customers when they have so many others; in this case, it comes to active boycott campaigns at the very least and multifaceted support of associated issues (ie it common knowledge company X is treating their workers poorly? Work with NGOs to encourage them to strike and unionize etc.).
 
Dirty Butler said:
This is the one that I'm not happy about


Second, starting on August 28, Prime members will now get a $10 Amazon credit when pre-ordering select games on Amazon.com. This credit can be used on almost anything sold by Amazon.com. This new pre-order benefit is replacing the current discount on physical game pre-orders. All eligible pre-orders placed before August 28 will still receive the 20% discount under the existing benefit once the game is released. For more information and restrictions on this new Prime benefit
Click to expand...

It was all part of their plan to kill Best Buys gamers club, once that was gone Amazon became the sole competitor for preorder discounts and now they can do whatever they want to keep the money on their platform.
 
Dirty Butler said:
This is the one that I'm not happy about


Second, starting on August 28, Prime members will now get a $10 Amazon credit when pre-ordering select games on Amazon.com. This credit can be used on almost anything sold by Amazon.com. This new pre-order benefit is replacing the current discount on physical game pre-orders. All eligible pre-orders placed before August 28 will still receive the 20% discount under the existing benefit once the game is released. For more information and restrictions on this new Prime benefit
Click to expand...

I "liked" your post for bringing it to our attention, but I don't like this at all. That was the main reason I even purchased games through Amazon.

To be fair, though, $10 off is not too bad. I think usually the 20% off on a pre-order came to $48 before tax, so really you're only losing $2. But only being Amazon credit makes it less valuable as well. I will end up using the credit because I do shop at Amazon a lot, but you can't deny the loss in value of this system.
 
RanceJustice said:
I'm not sure that I'd agree that any subscription service is bad - in fact, I've written at length that in some cases its actually the most equitable and best value proposition for the subscriber.
Click to expand...

Oh, definitely. It's just usually my friends who take advantage of subscriptions are people who don't really budget themselves and just get a new iPhone contract every time it's up, etc., and are always in debt. So it's not the subscription or value so much as the convenience factor...convenience in certain forms is bad for people. I guess by that logic it's the person's fault but when these companies not only have massive metrics on the consumer but actively grab a near-monopoly on some markets, I think it's easy for busy people to be lulled into bad contracts. I realize that people will find different arguments there but the bottom line for me is, if you know you can't be bothered to do research or actually see the shit behind the scenes then it's best to be conservative with anything that regularly takes money out of your pocket.

Case in point would be a webhost I previously used. I've moved host to host over the years as EIG has bought them up. Sometimes I stick around a while but inevitably, service goes to shit. The most recent one that this happened with raised monthly prices. Without asking or telling me. My father had just passed so I didn't even notice the price increase until months later and they basically told me I was shit out of luck...and sure enough, they found a legal loophole for it. Up to that point I had ALWAYS paid month-to-month MANUALLY but since I was so busy I switched to automatic payment/subscription. Guess what? Got screwed. I should have listened to my own advice.
 
Concillian said:
Recently stopped Amazon prime for a myriad of reasons. I don't have a huge problem watching ads on Twitch except for 2 things:

1) the livestreams seem to all be low volume, so commercials are SCREAMING LOUD. I know commercials are louder than the show, even on TV, but it's doubly so for Twitch

2) A good portion of the commercials literally break the Twitch app on my phone. How badly depends on the commercial, some only slow things to a crawl so that if I wait ~2 minutes or switch apps and back it fixes it, but one consistently crashes the Twitch app (Phone is not top of the line, but not terrible.... Nexus 5X).

A long time ago, before they created Twitch Prime, there was a feature to report ads that borked the player, but I guess they don't care anymore.
Click to expand...

The twitch app has been horrible on iOS for almost a year now. Ads crash it almost daily now but in some cases the ad just fails to play and 3-5s later I'm watching the stream. That Rock movie where he's trapped in a skyscraper that came out a few months ago would just freeze the app every time for 30s and then stutter through the whole ad. 2+ minutes to show a 30s movie trailer.
 
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