经济学人435:网络游戏 流入亚马逊

 　　Online gaming

　　网络游戏

　　Streaming down the Amazon

　　流入亚马逊

　　Why Amazon is buying a video-game streaming site

　　亚马逊为何要购入一个流媒体视频游戏网站

　　ON OCTOBER 4th 2013, tens of thousands of gamers packed the Staples¹ Centre inLos Angelesto watch SK Telecom T1 triumph over Royal Club in the annual finals of “League of Legends”, a team-based video game; 32m people watched the games live at some point, about 50% more than watch “Sunday Night Football”. But they did not watch on television. They used Twitch².tv, a website founded in 2011 that streams live video directly to users' computers.

　　2013年10月4日，成千上万的游戏玩家挤在洛杉矶的斯台普斯中心围观SK Telecom T1在团队视频游戏“英雄联盟”年度总决赛上击败了Royal Club；观看这场游戏竞赛直播的观众人数多达3200万人，这比观看“周日橄榄球之夜”的观众人数多了约50%。但他们没有用电视观看直播，而是使用Twitch.tv，一家在2011年建立的直接面向用户电脑的流媒体视频直播网站。

　　亚马逊.jpg

　　On August 25th Amazon announced that it would buy Twitch for $970m, an indication of the growing importance of video-streaming websites. Amazon was not the only one interested: a few months ago Google had been rumoured³ to be on the verge⁴ of offering $1 billion for the firm as well.

　　在8月25日，亚马逊宣布其将花费9.7亿美元收购Twitch，这显示了流媒体视频网站日益增长的重要性。亚马逊并不是唯一一家对Twitch感兴趣的公司；数月前，有传闻说谷歌也差点想以10亿美元收购这家公司。

　　Video-streaming websites are not new. Twitch.tv was spun⁵ out of Justin.tv, a site set up in 2007 to allow Justin Kan, one of its founders⁶, to broadcast his life to anyone who was interested. Soon, everyone could use it, letting them make television shows with nothing more expensive than a webcam and a computer.

　　流媒体视频网站并不是新事物。Twitch.tv是从Justin.tv独立出来的，而Justin.tv是在2007创立的，其创建者之一Justin Kan可以通过其传播他的生活点滴，任何对此感兴趣的人都可以订阅。不久后，每个人都可以使用这个网站制作发布他们各自的视频节目，且只用一个摄像头和一台电脑就能完成。

　　It is the combination of streaming and video games that has attracted Amazon's interest. Gaming became the most popular genre⁷ on Justin.tv, and Twitch was created to appeal to players. Viewers watch people play competitively, give advice on how to improve, or simply discuss anything that takes their fancy. The best streamers earn a comfortable living from advertising⁸ revenue and donations from fans.

　　流媒体和视频游戏的结合，是这一点引起了亚马逊的兴趣。游戏成了Justin.tv网站上最受欢迎的版块，创建Twitch就是为了吸引玩家。观众们观看这些玩家激烈的竞赛，获得如何提升游戏技巧的建议，或者只是谈论他们感兴趣的事。顶尖的视频网站玩家因有广告收入和粉丝的捐赠而可获得舒适的生活。

　　In July Twitch attracted 55m viewers, who collectively watched 15 billion minutes of video. That was enough to make it the biggest consumer of bandwidth inAmericaafter Netflix, Google and Apple. The typical Twitch viewer spends almost two hours a day on the site, far more than on sites like Netflix or YouTube. That delights advertisers, as does Twitch's audience: mostly young men with plenty of disposable income.

　　在7月，Twitch吸引了5500万访问者，而这些访问者累计共观看了150亿分钟的视频。这足以使其成为美国继网飞、谷歌、苹果之后最大的带宽消费者。典型的Twitch订阅者每天会在此网站上花费近2小时，远远超过他们在Netflix或YouTube上花费的时间。这使得广告商们很是高兴，同样高兴的还有Twitch的订阅者—他们大都是有着大量可支配收入的年轻人。

　　Amazon's boss, Jeff Bezos, presumably thinks Twitch's breakneck growth will continue. He is paying nearly four times what he forked out for the Washington Post in 2013. But he will need to tread carefully. Twitch's users like the site's free-and-easy feel.Some worry that absorption into the Amazonian mother ship may not be compatible with a laid-back atmosphere. But if Amazon starts making changes, there is little to stop streamers and viewers defecting to rival sites such as Hitbox.

　　亚马逊的总裁Jeff Bezos大概认为Twitch的高速增长将会持续。他收购Twitch的花费是2013年收购华盛顿邮报花费的近4倍。但是他需要谨慎行事。Twitch的用户喜爱的是该网站自由与轻松的感觉。有些人担心， Twitch与亚马逊母舰兼并的过程可能不会太轻松。但是如果亚马逊开始对Twitch的做出改变，就没有什么能阻止Twitch的视频发布者和订阅者转向Hitbox等竞争对手网站。

1 staples   

n.（某国的）主要产品( staple的名词复数 )；钉书钉；U 形钉；主要部份v.用钉书钉钉住( staple的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The anvil onto which the staples are pressed was not assemble correctly. 订书机上的铁砧安装错位。 来自辞典例句
• I'm trying to make an analysis of the staples of his talk. 我在试行分析他的谈话的要旨。 来自辞典例句

2 twitch   

v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛

参考例句：

• The smell made my dog's nose twitch.那股气味使我的狗的鼻子抽动着。
• I felt a twitch at my sleeve.我觉得有人扯了一下我的袖子。

3 rumoured   

adj.谣传的；传说的；风

参考例句：

• It has been so rumoured here. 此间已有传闻。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• It began to be rumoured that the jury would be out a long while. 有人传说陪审团要退场很久。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

4 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

5 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。

6 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

7 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

8 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。