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- The Swedish games database company IGDB will get acquired by Amazon-owned livestreaming platform Twitch. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
- Twitch will use IGDB’s database to improve its search and discovery feature while the IGDB website will remain operational.
- IGDB’s operations will stay in Sweden. The company will stop selling API subscriptions and offer all its API products for free.
Yesterday, Amazon-owned livestreaming platform Twitch’s plans to acquire IGDB (Internet Games Database), a Swedish startup that built a website aggregating relevant information about games in one resource, was made public. IGDB raised disclosed fundings of kr14.5M SEK ($1.5M USD) in two rounds before the acquisition. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
After the completion of this strategic acquisition, IGDB’s database will help Twitch improve its search and discovery feature by feeding into it. According to reports, the IGDB website itself (which was founded in 2015 by Christian Frithiof and a small team based in Gothenburg, Sweden) will not be shut down, and the entire team from IGDB will remain based in Sweden. The database sources its gaming content both through community contributions and automation.
“Millions of people come to Twitch every day to find and connect with their favorite streamers and communities, and we want to make it easier for people to find what they’re looking for,” a Twitch spokesperson told media outlet Techcrunch. “IGDB has developed a comprehensive gaming database, and we’re excited to bring them on to help us more quickly improve and scale search and discovery on Twitch.”
The database lists information for games, such as the genre, platforms supported, description, member and critic ratings and reviews, storyline, game modes, publisher, release dates, characters, and more.
IGDB’s business model prior to its acquisition relied on revenues generated through API subscriptions. It’s API was free to use for smaller users while charging regular customers $99 per month for up to 50K requests. Customers interested in more requests were offered custom-tailored pricing. In the course of its acquisition by Twitch, IGDB will merge its free and paid APIs into one free product.
