Twitch to End Prime Video Watch Party Next Month

Twitch, the popular streaming platform, is set to discontinue its Prime Video Watch Party feature on April 2, according to a recent announcement made on the company's support page. The feature, which has been available since September 2020, allowed streamers to watch movies or TV shows available on Amazon Prime or Prime Video with their viewers. The removal is attributed to declining usage. Watch Parties gained popularity during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as a digital group-viewing experience. Despite the stated decline in interest, some streamers like Will Neff have expressed sorrow over the end of Watch Parties, acknowledging the feature's role in creating a community of film enthusiasts. The move has been criticized particularly in light of the upcoming release of Prime Video's highly-anticipated Fallout series. Streamers have a few more weeks to enjoy the feature before it's phased out.

Twitch is removing the Prime Video Watch Party feature due to a significant decline in its usage, opting to reallocate resources to other features on the platform.

The elimination of the Prime Video Watch Party feature from Twitch marks the end of an era of shared viewing experiences on the platform. Twitch has become an integral part of gaming culture since its launch in 2011, not only for game streaming but also as a community hub. The Watch Party feature was one of the many interactive tools available to creators to build a sense of community among their followers. Its introduction during the global pandemic provided a valuable way for people to connect over shared interests, in this case, movies and TV shows, at a time when in-person social interactions were limited. The popularity of Twitch and features like Watch Parties signifies the evolution of online streaming platforms as places for multifaceted social engagement beyond just gaming.