Steam has partnered with Twitch, and has now started allowing users to link their accounts with those of the live video streaming service. This spells great news for Dota 2 players, as prior to this, they had to choose between watching tournaments of the title either in-game or via Twitch, and doing the latter took away from them the facility to earn random promotional items during these events.
Those who purchase tournament tickets will now be able gain item drops even while watching streams on Twitch. This linking between Steam and the video streaming service was announced by the Dota team recently through its official blog. This post talked about the reason they decided to take this step as well. Apparently, a number of gamers have ‘different reasons’ for choosing to watch tournament streams in-game or via Twitch.
As a result, with an aim to bridge the gap between Steam and Twitch, and also to avoid players from missing out on the random item drops, this step was taken. Moreover, it has also been mentioned that there is scope for expansion of this service in the future. The new development comes just about a month prior to The International Dota 2 Championship which is to be organized by Valve in Seattle, Washington.
Strangely enough, Dota 2 is still in its beta stages, and there’s no official word about its release date as yet. However, it is expected to have its launch slated before August 7, when the aforementioned tournament kicks off. This MOBA game is a standalone sequel to the much popular Defense of the Ancients mod for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion pack, The Frozen Throne. Gamers can now get into its beta through Steam by paying 9.99 USD (approx. Rs. 600).
And those who wish to link their Steam accounts to their Twitch accounts can easily find can easily do so by entering the latter website.