Last year, Twitch acquired gaming chat and social suite company Curse, whose desktop app worked similarly to Discord.  Both programs let users have voice and text chat while playing their games, but Twitch is changing Curse’s client a little.  The company is launching the Twitch-branded program as an update to the existing one.
Twitch will be rolling the update out to current Curse client users beginning on March 16, with new users able to download the Twitch social client after March 16 at download.twitch.tv.  The app will feature customizable chat rooms for both voice and text, a friends list, video calls, and in-game overlays, according the app’s page.  The app’s history of light resource usage and ease-of-use is likely to help grow its popularity among Twitch viewers and broadcasters, especially as game purchasing via Twitch along with many of the platform features Twitch has announced since acquiring Curse.
NeoGAF forum members have been voicing their nonchalant reactions to Twitch essentially reusing an acquisition’s product, as well as questioning what the implications of Twitch’s branded app means for existing programs like Livestreamer and Streamlink, as well as direct competition like Discord.  Should we learn more prior to the app’s launch, we’ll be sure to keep you updated, but until then be sure to stay tuned to Rectify Gaming for our PAX East coverage this weekend.
Via: NeoGAF