{"id":335529,"date":"2017-03-11T00:45:09","date_gmt":"2017-03-10T16:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1463343"},"modified":"2017-03-11T00:45:09","modified_gmt":"2017-03-10T16:45:09","slug":"twitch-to-relaunch-curse-acquired-last-year-as-the-more-social-twitch-desktop-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/twitch-to-relaunch-curse-acquired-last-year-as-the-more-social-twitch-desktop-app\/","title":{"rendered":"Twitch to relaunch Curse, acquired last year, as the more social Twitch Desktop App"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hot on the heels of rolling out its own version of Twitter, called Pulse<\/a>, video game streaming site Twitch<\/a> today announced its new desktop application, Twitch Desktop App. This is actually a rebranding of Curse App \u2013 an application\u00a0Twitch acquired<\/a> from the video game community and software\u00a0maker Curse last year. Twitch says the now \u201cenhanced\u201d app will include community servers, voice and video messaging, and game content distribution.<\/p>\n

One of the larger goals with Twitch Desktop App is to give streamers\u2019 followers a place to connect, even when the streamer is offline. It also is further representation of how Twitch is re-imagining itself as more than just a place to watch live video \u2013 it\u2019s working to become more of a true social network.<\/p>\n

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The launch, which is scheduled for March 16, 2017, follows several recent moves aimed at giving Twitch more of a social networking feel. The most notable being this week\u2019s launch of Pulse<\/a>, a Twitter-like social stream right on the homepage that lets users share updates, including text and multimedia from services like Vimeo, YouTube, Imgur, Gfycat, as well as Twitch.<\/p>\n

The company has also rolled out other social features, like Communities<\/a>, which focus on gamers\u2019 shared interests \u2013 including those that extend beyond video games; IRL<\/a>, which lets vloggers host\u00a0broadcasts to directly talk with fans; and Twitch Creative<\/a>, where broadcasters can show off artistic endeavours, whether or not they\u2019re directly related to gaming.<\/p>\n

It has also dabbled with streaming non-gaming video content, including shows from Bob Ross, Julia Child, Amazon Prime Video, and, as of March 14, it\u2019s adding the\u00a0Power Rangers to that mix with a 831 episode-long marathon. This will be streamed from\u00a0twitch.tv\/TwitchPresents,<\/a>\u00a0the site\u2019s new home for its TV marathons.<\/p>\n

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Combined, these\u00a0efforts are meant to give gamers a reason to stay on the site and continue to engage with its content, even when the video game streams they came to see have ended.<\/p>\n

As part of its rebranding of the Curse app, Twitch says it kept its popular features, like screen sharing, voice and video calling, and community server creation.<\/p>\n

It then added in Twitch\u2019s own feature set on top, including its social offerings. This includes Friends, Whispers (private chat), activity sharing (to see when friends are streaming, what they\u2019re watching, or playing a game).<\/p>\n

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The app will also later offer the ability to download game purchases from Twitch, when game sales go live later this spring<\/a>\u2013 Twitch\u2019s new e-commerce push, announced in February. The desktop application will serve as a game library for these purchases, as well as a place for add-ons and mods that automatically update.<\/p>\n

This the first major Curse-related announcement, since Amazon-owned Twitch acquired Curse last year<\/a>. Twitch was interested in Curse for several reasons, its\u00a0TeamSpeak competitor that\u2019s the above-mentioned Curse app, as well as its sizable video game communities, which overlapped quite a bit with Twitch\u2019s own.<\/p>\n

When the new Twitch Desktop App launches into beta later this month, it will be available from download.twitch.tv.<\/p>\n

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    \"\" Hot on the heels of rolling out its own version of Twitter, called Pulse, video game streaming site Twitch today announced its new desktop application, Twitch Desktop App. This is actually a rebranding of Curse App – an application\u00a0Twitch acquired from the video game community and software\u00a0maker Curse last year. Twitch says the now “enhanced” app will include community… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

    \n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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