The Twitch Games Store Is Open For Business

Mark your calendars: today is the day Twitch starts selling games, with about 50 titles available for purchase. We knew this was happening for a bit now, but now I can today as the day it finally did happen. What does it mean for gamers?

If you make a purchase of $4.99 or more you will earn buyers a Twitch Crate, filled with badges, bits, and emojis. Plus, streamers will earn a small cut. The official blog announcement reads:

Without further ado (drum roll, please…) the games! We’ll be updating this list as we add new titles to our catalog. If you want to know more about a title, click on its name to go to the game’s detail page. Once you’re there, click on Live Channels at the top of the page to see who’s streaming the game. At launch, we are offering for PC games only.

One note of interest, and something I find a little disappointing, you can't buy games through the Twitch app, at least not in any obvious manner—yet. Maybe I'm missing something. For now you have to navigate to a game's Twitch webpage, buy the game there, and then it will be added to your Twitch Desktop App library. It's a two-step process when it should be one.

Here's the game Tyranny as an example. It is neat that you can tab through Live Channels, Videos, and Store page for a game, making it easy for potential buyers to judge whether or not title is worth it for them. Today is Day 1, so I'm sure we'll see the store pop up in the Twitch app soonish.

I wonder what Valve is thinking right now.